In fact, a 2016 archeological dig in Israel found evidence that nuts formed a major part of our ancestors’ diet 780,000 years ago.

Dig researchers discovered seven varieties of nuts, along with stone tools to crack them open. These stone tools, called “nutting stones,” are similar to those found in the United States and Europe, and archeologists date them back 4,000 to 8,000 years.

Today, many of us enjoy walnuts, almonds, pecans, Brazil nuts, pistachios, cashews, macadamia nuts, and hazelnuts, plus honorary peanuts (even though peanuts are technically a legume) with enthusiasm.

Nuts are a popular plant-based protein source and are often used in dairy analogues like nut milk and nut cheese. And a variety of nut butters have emerged, beyond traditional peanut butter. Yet, we’re only beginning to appreciate the enormous nutritional benefits that nuts give us.

So how healthy are nuts? What actually constitutes a nut? Are there any downsides to eating nuts? And what are the best ways to store and eat them?

Types of Nuts

Nuts come in many different shapes and sizes. But most of the different types of nuts fall under the tree nut category. As the name suggests, they grow on trees. But botanically, some of what we know as nuts may technically be fruits, drupes, or seeds.

In general, the word nut is used to describe a hard covering or shell surrounding a kernel or “meat” inside.

Some of the most common types of nuts include:

• Almonds
• Pecans
• Walnuts
• Hazelnuts
• Cashews
• Brazil nuts
• Macadamia nuts
• Pistachios
• Pine nuts
• Chestnuts

There are also a few other foods that have “nut” in their name that you may be wondering about. For example, are coconuts nuts? Coconuts are technically drupes because they have three layers: a smooth outer layer, a tough fibrous layer, and the fleshy part surrounding the middle.

Peanuts are also lumped into the nut category but are actually legumes. They’re the edible seeds of the peanut plant and grow underground rather than on a tree. But in terms of culinary usage, they’re very much nutlike.

Additionally, nutmeg does not come from a nut, but from a seed. Water chestnuts are actually roots or tubers. And corn nuts are still corn; they’re just roasted until they’re hard and crunchy like nuts.

Nut Nutrition

Nuts of all sorts have been an important food source for humans for centuries. In fact, it’s theorized that the discovery and inclusion of nuts in our diets may have helped shape our brains and intelligence.

This makes sense when you consider the walnut, especially. Walnuts resemble tiny brains inside a skull. As a result, they were often associated with brain health. But many different nuts have a variety of nutrients beneficial for brain health and beyond.

Nuts are a rich source of complex carbohydrates. Carbs in nuts vary, but cashews and almonds have some of the highest carbohydrate contents at 8.6 and 6.1 grams per one-ounce serving, respectively.

Nuts also contain a good amount of protein, which is why they’re often recommended as a protein source to include in a plant-based diet. Peanuts rank the highest in protein, followed closely by almonds, pistachios, and cashews.

Additionally, nuts contain fiber, contributing to satiety. Hazelnuts and almonds contain the most fiber per ounce at 3 and 4 grams, respectively.

Nuts contain both saturated and unsaturated fats. The high fat content in nuts also contributes to a relatively high amount of calories per serving. If you’re trying to manage weight, you may want to stick to some of the lowest-calorie nuts, such as raw chestnuts or cashews, or limit your portion to no more than one or two ounces per day.

Across the board, nuts also contain significant amounts of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. A one-ounce serving of cashews contains 1.9 milligrams of iron, a vital mineral for transporting oxygen in the blood. And almonds, cashews, and peanuts are all good sources of magnesium. A single Brazil nut can also provide an entire daily value’s worth of selenium.

So with all of that to consider, what is the healthiest nut? Opinions may vary, but walnuts have some of the highest antioxidant levels and are also one of the best plant-based sources of omega-3 fatty acids. And researchers found that walnuts had the greatest health benefits among all the nuts studied in PREDIMED, a landmark randomized clinical trial on the Mediterranean diet.

Health Benefits of Nuts Worth Knowing About

When it comes to the health benefits of nuts, there are many worth knowing about. It seems that, unless you’re allergic to them, all nuts might be good for you in one way or another.

Nuts and Heart Health

Epidemiologic studies have linked eating nuts with reduced rates of heart disease. And that’s extremely good news for everyone since heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide.

A review on nuts and cardiovascular disease risk found that higher consumption of nuts worked out to a 19% reduction in disease incidence and a 25% reduction in death from heart disease. Researchers also found a correlation between nuts and lower risk of atrial fibrillation and stroke deaths.

What’s more, a Korean cohort study discovered that even just one 15-gram serving of nuts per week (about half an ounce) was associated with a lowered risk of high blood pressure.

Nuts and Diabetes

Relatedly, recent studies have also indicated that nut consumption may help manage or prevent type 2 diabetes.

Many people with type 2 diabetes also have some form of heart disease due to its metabolic impacts on the body. As a result, researchers used a systematic review to look at the blood lipid levels in people with type 2 diabetes. They found that both peanuts and tree nuts had an impact on total cholesterol and triglycerides in the diets of diabetes patients.

A 2021 meta-analysis of clinical trials also found that tree nut consumption reduced glucose levels and HbA1c levels in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Nuts and Brain Health

Walnuts do indeed look like little brains and may also help with brain health. A 2022 study in the journal Nutrients showed walnuts have a powerful protective effect against neuroinflammation. This is an important quality to have since neuroinflammation is directly linked to the development of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Another more recent review also suggests that nuts have a positive impact on cognitive health across the lifespan and may especially help prevent cognitive decline in older adults. In particular, walnuts were noted as the most promising nut in supporting cognition due to their omega-3 fatty acid content.

Nuts and Longevity

Speaking of being protective across your lifespan, a study of Seventh-Day Adventists (a religious denomination that emphasizes healthy living and a vegetarian diet) found that those who ate nuts at least five times per week gained, on average, an extra two years of life expectancy. The nut eaters also experienced a significant reduction in heart disease risk.

And perhaps most dramatically of all, a large-scale, 30-year-long study found that people who regularly ate one ounce of nuts at least seven times per week were 20% less likely to die for any reason, compared to those who avoided nuts in their diet.

Nuts and Cancer

Many nuts have also been linked to lower rates of certain cancers. Studies done on walnuts, in particular, have found that they appear to be particularly protective against breast and prostate cancers. Walnuts and many other nuts contain a number of potent nutrients that may help fight cancer and boost overall health. These nutrients include ellagic acid, a phytochemical, and gamma-tocopherol, an antioxidant and the major form of vitamin E — both of which have strong anti-inflammatory and cancer-protective effects.

Nuts and Erectile Dysfunction

A clinical study published in the International Journal of Impotence Research looked at what happened to men with erectile dysfunction (ED) who ate three to four handfuls of pistachios a day for three weeks. They experienced a significant improvement in blood flow through their private parts. The researchers concluded that three weeks of pistachios “resulted in a significant improvement in erectile function… without any side effects.” That’s pretty impressive, considering the side effects of prescription ED medications.

Results from the FERTINUTS trial, a study examining the impact of nuts on sperm quality, also had positive things to say. The consumption of 60 grams a day of mixed nuts versus no nuts at all showed a significant increase in sexual function and desire among men.

Disadvantages of Nuts

Despite all the impressive health benefits of nuts, there are a few things to consider when adding them to your diet.

Nut Allergies

Perhaps the most obvious downside to nuts is that many children and adults are allergic to them. Tree nut allergies are the most common type of food allergy. And most children with a tree nut allergy are allergic to more than one nut and do not usually outgrow their allergy — as is sometimes the case with other food allergens.

Although peanuts are botanically legumes and not tree nuts, there is also a significant crossover between peanut and tree nut allergies. Around 25–40% of people with a peanut allergy also have a tree nut allergy.

Both peanut and tree nut allergies can have a range of symptoms, from coughing and wheezing to indigestion to hives, and, most severe of all, anaphylaxis. Obviously, if you have a peanut or tree nut allergy, do not consume them.

The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) suggests that seeds (sesame, sunflower, or pumpkin) are often better tolerated in individuals with tree nut allergies. Coconuts, macadamia nuts, and pine nuts are also considered okay for many people with tree nut allergies since the former is botanically a fruit, and the latter two also fall under the seed category. Individuals should consult with their health care team to confirm these foods’ safety.

Nutrient Density

Nuts are some of the most nutrient-dense foods you can eat. This makes sense, considering they are a small package that has the potential to grow into a tree! But because they’re loaded with nutrition (and calories), a little can actually go a long way.

So what’s the recommended serving size of nuts? In general, current dietary guidelines recommend a 30-gram serving, or a little over an ounce. However, a handful has also been suggested as a valid (although, admittedly, not very scientific) nut serving size.

The one exception to this is Brazil nuts. Because a single Brazil nut can contain up to 96 micrograms of selenium, which is almost double the recommended amount, it’s probably best to only consume one to two Brazil nuts per day. Brazil nuts also contain barium, which can be toxic in large doses.

Antinutrients in Nuts

Because nuts and seeds contain the building blocks for new life, they also tend to come with protections in place to ensure that life succeeds. Antinutrients are plant chemicals that are meant to make a plant less tasty, to deter predators.

Nuts contain antinutrients like phytates, tannins, lectins, and oxalates. Antinutrients are so named because they interfere with the absorption of certain nutrients. So, is this a reason to avoid eating nuts?

Although antinutrients are controversial in the nutrition world, they aren’t the bad guy they’re often made out to be. As we’ve seen in this article, nuts have amazing benefits. On the other hand, many studies done on antinutrients examine them in isolation, which is not how they’re consumed.

Antinutrients are found in many plant foods, along with a variety of beneficial vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other plant compounds. In fact, their very inclusion may actually contribute to some of the health benefits seen in nuts and other plant-based foods.

So there’s no need to fear antinutrients in nuts. But if you do want to lessen your antinutrient consumption for whatever reason, you can do so by soaking nuts in water for 24–48 hours. Cooking, sprouting, or fermenting nuts also has the same effect.

For more on antinutrients, see our article, here.

How to Enjoy Nuts

Based on numerous studies, it appears that eating at least one serving of nuts a week, and potentially up to a serving per day, may lead to tremendous health benefits. But how you get those benefits is up to you.

You can enjoy nuts straight as a snack, with a sprinkling of salt or other seasoning, in trail mix or granola, or added to smoothies. Nuts also go well in a nut loaf or casserole, as a topping for salads, blended into nut milk, or prepared into nut cheeses, nut butters, or even pie crusts.

However, because nuts contain different types of fat, they’re prone to spoilage. Walnuts, in particular, are high in omega-3s and may go bad more quickly than other nuts. Fresh in-shell walnuts are best. If you’re a little adventurous, you can get a nutcracker and crack them yourself.

If you opt for shelled walnuts, store them in airtight containers in the refrigerator to prevent their oils from going rancid. According to the University of California Agricultural and Natural Resources, nuts will retain their nutritional and flavor quality for up to one year if stored in the refrigerator or two years in the freezer. You can find out how long each type of nut lasts by viewing this chart on Eat By Date. Throw out (or compost!) any nuts that smell or taste sour or bitter.

And, of course, a food is only as healthy as the company it keeps. When nuts are overly salted or laden with sugar or with artificial additives and flavorings, they lose much of their nutritional value and can become a less healthy choice.

Nut Recipes

Enjoy nuts of all varieties for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert with these outrageously nutty and wonderfully delicious nut recipes!

1. Toasted Pistachio and Cherry Overnight Oats

Toasted Pistachio and Cherry Overnight Oats are a tasty way to get a healthy dose of powerful plant nutrients. Oats, cherries, chia seeds, and pistachios offer a great deal of fiber, protein, and healthy fats. Not to mention, cherries and pistachios are packed with nutrients to fight inflammation from their abundant phytonutrients, making this a nourishing breakfast that provides long-lasting energy and health.

2. One Sheet Spicy Almond Tofu and Green Beans

Creamy almond butter breathes new life into protein-packed tofu and crisp green beans. In this recipe, the green beans are brushed with Spicy Almond Sauce before baking alongside the tofu and onions for a sheet pan meal that is efficient and scrumptious. Once everything’s done baking, pile your ingredients on top of rice (or your favorite whole grain), drizzle more nutty almond butter sauce on top, and garnish with additional flavors and textures for a restaurant-worthy nut recipe!

3. Fudgy Chocolate Chip and Walnut Brownies

What’s better than a warm fudgy brownie? If you guessed a warm fudgy brownie with walnuts, you’d be correct! These Fudgy Chocolate Chip and Walnut Brownies may seem too good to be true, but you certainly can have your (plant-based) cake and eat it, too. Made with fiber-rich oat flour, dairy-free, fair-trade dark chocolate, applesauce, and mashed banana, these brownies will have you coming back again and again. With dense gooey chocolate, crunchy walnuts, and a fudgy texture, these brownies are a naturally sweet treat you’ll be excited to sink your teeth into!

You’d Be Nutty to Ignore Nuts!

No matter what type of nuts you enjoy, you will find beneficial qualities in them. Nuts are nutritional powerhouses providing a potent source of plant-based protein as well as healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Their robust nutritional profiles also explain why they’re so good for you. From protecting your heart health to prolonging your life to even helping you out in the bedroom, nuts have a lot to offer.

And while there are a few downsides of nuts to consider, overall, the benefits far outweigh any drawbacks (unless you’re allergic, of course). From homemade nut butters to salad toppings, nuts offer a versatile and convenient way to elevate both taste and well-being, making them an indispensable addition to a health-conscious diet.

Tell us in the comments:

• What are your favorite types of nuts?
• What health benefits of nuts are you most excited about?
• How do you like to eat nuts?

Featured Image: iStock.com/Mykola Sosiukin

Read Next:

• Walnuts: Understanding Their Benefits, Nutrition, and Sustainability
• Healthy Crunchy Snacks to Beat Those Potato Chip Cravings

The post Nut Health Benefits: You Won’t Believe How Good They Are for You appeared first on Food Revolution Network.

Since then, the search for a fountain of youth has been a recurring obsession of kings and explorers, pilgrims and pirates. As far as I know, none of them ever found it (or if they did, they aren’t sharing any details). No spring, river, pond, lake, or sea has magically rejuvenated the bathers who submerged themselves in its water to the point where creaky elders limp in and dewy-eyed adolescents leap out.

If you’re searching for clues to living a long and healthy life, you probably need to look elsewhere. And a huge factor in the rate of aging turns out to be a class of compounds found in many of our most common (and sadly, most beloved) foods. If you want to slow down your biological clock, limiting your consumption of these foods appears to be a much more reliable and effective strategy than dunking yourself in a mangrove swamp in Bimini or a waterfall pool at the foot of a South Indian mountain.

The compounds are known to biochemists as advanced glycation end products, which might be hard to remember except for their most excellent acronym: AGEs. As in, AGEs that accumulate in your tissues — make you age faster.

Aging isn’t just a vanity issue that sells stock image licenses to fashion magazines and anti-wrinkle creams to their readers. It’s a big deal for your overall health because, statistically speaking, the single biggest risk factor for disease and death isn’t your genes, or your diet, or how much you exercise, or whether you live downwind of a Superfund site, or whether you drink enough water or put on sunscreen, or any lifestyle or environmental factor; it’s your age.

Which means that because AGEs can contribute to the development of various age-related diseases and conditions, they can shorten your lifespan.

The good news is, you have a lot of control over the amount of AGEs you consume, which in turn largely determines the concentrations of these compounds that accumulate in your body and how much harm they get to perpetrate.

In this article, we’ll dive into the world of AGEs and their impact on your health. We’ll see how your food choices — as well as various cooking methods — can affect the formation of AGEs. And we’ll discover some simple and delicious ways to minimize AGEs in your diet — so you can increase your odds of a longer, healthier, and happier future.

What Are AGEs?

Advanced glycation end products are harmful compounds that form through a natural process called glycation. It takes place inside your body when the sugars in your bloodstream react with proteins, lipids (fats), and nucleic acids from the food that you eat.

You can also introduce AGEs into your body fully formed, as it were. They form exogenously (that is, outside the body) when foods are browned and their outer layer becomes crispy and crunchy. This chemical reaction is known as the Maillard reaction, or nonenzymatic browning. The Maillard reaction gives foods a texture, taste, color, and aroma that most people find very pleasing.

You can also introduce AGEs into your body through drinking alcohol and smoking.

As you age, AGEs can start to accumulate in your tissues and organs. The more your blood sugar levels fluctuate, the more AGEs form, and the more the effects of glycation intensify and accelerate the aging process.

AGEs can also cross-link with various proteins in your body, leading to the formation of abnormal structures and interfering with the functioning of important molecules. This further contributes to the aging process.

Why Are AGEs Bad for You?

Advanced glycation end products have been shown to be toxic, immunogenic (triggering an immune response, typically unwanted and over-the-top), and capable of triggering cellular injury. Another remarkably on-point acronym, RAGE, stands for Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products. It is a receptor protein for AGEs that plays a role in the inflammatory response and has been implicated in various age-related diseases and conditions, including skin damage, respiratory disorders, neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

Skin Health

AGEs contribute to skin aging, including the formation of wrinkles and brown spots. They affect how proteins work in the dermis (the middle layer of your skin), leading to lots of problems: decreased elasticity, delayed recovery from wounds, accelerated skin aging, and inflammation that can contribute to skin conditions like dermatitis and psoriasis.

Collagen (a type of protein found in our connective tissue, cartilage, bone, and tendons) is one of the structures most easily attacked by AGEs. Over time, AGEs can accumulate on collagen, causing the skin to turn yellow.

Neurodegenerative Diseases

Autopsies of people who died from or with Alzheimer’s disease have shown accumulations of AGEs have been found in their brain plaques, as well as in their blood serum and cerebrospinal fluid. AGEs can also hasten the ravages of Parkinson’s disease by contributing to neuronal cells’ self-destruction as well as the formation of Lewy bodies (structures associated with abnormal deposits of a particular protein in the brain).

Respiratory Disorders

The more AGEs a person consumes, and the more frequently they eat meat, the more likely they are to experience breathing problems. This includes symptoms of asthma in children, such as wheezing. Kids who consume the most AGEs typically need more asthma meds, have their sleep interrupted by wheezing episodes, and are most limited in their ability to exercise without shortness of breath.

When COVID-19 hit, many of the initial deaths were linked to an immune system overreaction known as a cytokine storm. AGE consumption appears to be linked to worsening outcomes in COVID patients due to more extensive lung damage. AGEs also can lead to severe pneumonitis (inflammation of the lung tissue) by impairing the immune response, triggering inflammation, changing the structure of lung tissue in a way that decreases lung function, and enabling bacteria to adhere more easily to the lungs.

Type 2 Diabetes

The AGEs that are created by cooking certain foods in certain ways (known as exogenous AGEs, to differentiate them from the endogenous AGEs that are synthesized inside our bodies) can be extremely harmful to people with type 2 diabetes. In addition to adding to the inflammation that can trigger the development of the disease, AGEs also contribute to diabetic retinopathy and other related issues that can damage eyesight.

Some of the vascular dysfunction associated with diabetes can be prevented by blocking the RAGE receptors. And proactively consuming a diet low in AGEs can increase insulin sensitivity, which can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the first place.

Cancer

With cancer, AGEs can act like gasoline thrown on a fire, increasing carcinogenic processes in a wide range of cancers and promoting their malignant behaviors. A 2015 study of male members of the US-based AARP found that the more AGEs they consumed, the greater their risk of developing pancreatic cancer. And a 2022 study of over 14,000 Japanese men found that high AGE intake was significantly associated with an increased risk of liver cancer.

AGE-Forming Foods

I hope by now you’re motivated to find out where these AGEs are hiding, so you can consume as little of them as possible. So here are the five main categories of AGE-forming foods.

Meat

In the standard industrialized diet, meat is typically the largest contributor to AGE formation. They’re created when the proteins in meat get a little too friendly with sugars, particularly glucose and fructose, that can be added during processing (some examples are many forms of bacon, hot dogs, and corned beef) or via marinades.

When meat is cooked at high temperatures, especially over an open flame or on a grill, it can produce harmful compounds that contribute to AGE formation. Some of the worst offenders are heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are classified as potential and known carcinogens, respectively.

Regardless of the cooking method, any blackened or charred meat will contain these compounds. The levels depend on the type of meat (beef is worst), cooking conditions, and final internal temperature.

If you’re wondering why humans tend to love the color, smell, texture, and taste of something that’s so bad for us, it’s probably because the Maillard reaction is a good indicator that the meat has been cooked enough to kill the pathogens that could kill you. From an evolutionary perspective, the AGEs that keep us from reaching old age are far preferable to the germs that could end your life in the next few hours or days.

Fried Foods

Frying and other high-heat cooking methods also increase the AGEs in foods. A big culprit here is the repeated heating and use of cooking oil in commercial settings. That oil accumulates large amounts of AGEs, which get transferred to those fries or mozzarella sticks when they’re submerged in their fryer basket.

The longer the food is exposed to high-temperature frying, the more opportunity there is for the Maillard reaction and AGE formation to occur. Even changing the cooking oil daily leaves room for lots of AGEs. Swapping out large containers of hot oil is a dangerous and not very fun job, so some restaurants or commercial kitchens schedule the task only every few days. (I asked a friend’s son who once worked in a local restaurant how often they changed their cooking oil, and he responded, puzzled, “I have no idea if they ever do.” Sometimes I’d rather not know certain things.)

Cheese

The highest concentrations of AGEs are found in aged and hard cheeses in particular, probably because they’re pasteurized and/or they spend a lot of time aging or curing at room temperature — conditions that make up a veritable AGE factory. But all dairy cheeses are potential sources of AGEs, perhaps because dairy contains large amounts of fat along with natural lactose sugar.

Processed and Packaged Foods

Processed and packaged foods are often high in AGEs. Many of them contain added sugars, and undergo high-temperature processing as they’re baked or fried. They’re high in AGEs via that good old Maillard reaction, which is responsible for the browning and flavor development in cooked foods, and which can also extend shelf life.

Sugary Foods

Since AGEs form via glycation (essentially, sugarcoating proteins and fats), foods high in added sugars, such as candies, pastries, and sugary beverages, can provide fodder for the glycation process and contribute to the formation of AGEs.

There’s data that suggests that the glycation process following high sugar intake may be a key player in the development of metabolic disturbances.

Foods and beverages with a high fructose-to-glucose ratio may promote AGE formation. These can include anything with high-fructose corn syrup, agave nectar, honey, and filtered fruit juices. A glaring exception to this rule is fruit, which is actually protective against AGE-related disease thanks to its high fiber content.

Especially worrisome are commercial soft drinks sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, which are often high in an intermediate product of the Maillard reaction called methylglyoxal.

Why Eating a Whole Food Plant-Based Diet Is the Best Way to Avoid AGEs

You can’t avoid AGEs entirely — pretty much every food contains some. But whole plant-based foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and herbs and spices, naturally have lower levels of AGEs than animal-derived foods. And some cooking methods commonly used on plant foods — steaming, boiling, and baking — produce fewer AGEs than the higher-temperature methods like frying, grilling, and broiling that are commonly used for foods of animal origin.

It’s definitely possible to get exposed to significant quantities of AGEs on a plant-based diet if you routinely fry starchy foods like potatoes (I’m looking at you, potato chips and french fries!). These foods also produce acrylamide, another compound that may be problematic for some people when consumed in large quantities.

But even when fried or broiled until brown and crispy, most whole plant-based foods offer compounds that can mitigate the damage caused by AGEs. Many are rich in antioxidants, such as vitamins C and E, the provitamin beta-carotene that your body converts to vitamin A as needed, and various phytochemicals that help neutralize the free radicals that can contribute to AGE formation and oxidative stress in the body.

Also, the soluble fiber available from plants helps regulate blood sugar levels and can reduce the glycation process by slowing down the absorption of sugars in the bloodstream.

5 Foods (and 1 Beverage) That Prevent Glycation

You can go a long way toward reducing AGEs and RAGE in your body by avoiding or limiting highly processed foods and those of animal origin, and by using lower-temperature cooking methods that don’t produce crispy, crusty browning on the outside.

In addition to those strategies, you can also consume some specific foods that contain compounds that inhibit the glycation process, so that the AGEs you do inevitably consume have less risk of causing aging and accompanying health problems.

Berries

The antioxidants in berries help reduce the conditions that lead to glycation by scavenging and neutralizing free radicals. Polyphenols found in berries, especially anthocyanins and quercetin, may directly inhibit the formation of AGEs. And extracts made from the skins of red grapes (which are, botanically speaking, berries) were able to inhibit the creation of AGEs in a test tube containing fructose-glycated proteins.

Berries also deliver anti-inflammatory and blood sugar-balancing effects.

For more on berries and some “berry” great recipes, see our article here.

Spices

Many spices, some commonly used in modern kitchens and some still awaiting their turn as superfood du jour, have been shown to prevent AGE formation through their powerful antioxidant activity. Examples include star anise, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves, which are staples in many traditional cuisines around the world. And good old black pepper also performed well at this task.

Other powerful anti-AGE spices include garlic and turmeric which contains the powerful antioxidant curcumin.

For more on herbs and spices, see our article here.

Nuts

Nuts, led by walnuts and pistachios, are great at inhibiting the glycation process in early and intermediate stages, before they even have a chance to reach the end stage indicated by “AGEs.” They are also powerful anti-inflammatories, helping to prevent damage related to any glycation that still occurs. Additionally, nuts have high antioxidant capacity (thanks to their concentrations of vitamin E) and are rich in phenolics and flavonoids that fight free radicals.

For more on nuts, see our article here.

Cruciferous Vegetables

Cruciferous vegetables contain the powerhouse antioxidant and anti-inflammatory sulforaphane, which is famous not just for giving cabbage and broccoli their distinctive odors, but also for being one of the most effective cancer fighters ever identified.

One of the ways sulforaphane delivers its massive health benefits is by inhibiting AGE-induced damage. In this way, it may prevent cardiovascular and diabetes-related complications. Broccoli sprouts, in particular, may play a protective role against vascular injury by inhibiting the AGEs’ (and their receptors’) axes and exhibiting anti-inflammatory actions.

For more information about sulforaphane and how to get it into your diet even if you aren’t a cabbage fan, check out our comprehensive article here.

Citrus

Perhaps the OG antioxidant, and certainly the one with the most publicity, vitamin C lives up to its reputation by helping to inhibit glycation processes. When researchers marinated lean beef in lemon juice for an hour before cooking, it ended up with half the AGEs as the same cut of beef marinated in vinegar.

It’s not just the vitamin C in citrus foods that deserves the credit. Flavonoids such as hesperidin, naringin, and quercetin have anti-inflammatory effects and help reduce the conditions that promote glycation. Hesperidin in particular is being studied for its potential to treat glycation-induced neurotoxicity involved in Alzheimer’s disease.

Citrus fruits also support healthy endothelial function. The endothelium, a layer of cells that lines your blood vessels, can contribute to the development of AGEs when it isn’t working properly, so the support of compounds in citrus fruits can go a long way in keeping glycation in check.

For more on the health benefits of oranges, see our article here.

Green Tea

There’s a compound found in green tea called epigallocatechin 3-gallate, which goes by its fun acronym EGCG, which sounds like the name of a trendy dance club from the 1980s (there may be an alternate universe in the multiverse in which I know very little about nutrition and a great deal about house music). EGCG helps protect proteins and other molecules from glycation by neutralizing free radicals before they have the chance to party and form AGEs. In this way, green tea consumption may help prevent neurodegenerative disease.

Through the same pathways, EGCG may also reduce plasma glucose and alleviate complications of diabetes.

For more on the health benefits of teas, see our article here.

Recipes to Fight Aging from AGEs

Defending yourself against the rapid formation of AGEs can feel like a mighty task, but with these nourishing recipes, it couldn’t be more simple. These recipes have powerful anti-inflammatory ingredients that actually counteract the damage that AGEs can do to your tissues. So grab your favorite kitchen knife and cutting board and get ready to unlock a world of fresh, wholesome, and nutritious plant power!

1. Strawberry Pistachio Iced Matcha Latte

Matcha, strawberries, and pistachios offer triple the anti-inflammatory support to stop AGEs in their tracks! Keep your skin, hair, nails (and everything in between) looking youthful, healthy, and vibrant with this creamy, fruity, and naturally sweet latte!

2. Summer Citrus Salad

This Summer Citrus Salad is as refreshing as it sounds. Juicy grapefruit, sweet oranges, floral blackberries, and earthy spinach are tossed in bright and zesty lemon juice. Together, these tantalizing plants offer a potent dose of vitamin C, beta-carotene, and powerhouse antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound sulforaphane. This salad is not only mouthwateringly nutritious, but it’s a great way to neutralize free radicals and prevent AGE formation and oxidative stress in the body. If that is not enough to convince you to give it a try, the aroma of the freshly segmented orange and grapefruit is simply delightful!

3. One-Pot Curry Cauliflower Chickpea Chili

One-Pot Curry Cauliflower Chickpea Chili offers a sweet and savory flavor profile with the addition of cinnamon and turmeric. Loaded with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties from both of the spices, and plenty of sulforaphane from the cauliflower, this Indian-inspired chili has an abundance of AGE-fighting plant power in every bite!

AGEs can Age You!

AGEs contribute to a number of health conditions, from skin aging and respiratory disorders to neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. Although AGEs occur naturally as you age, and are found in food and produced in your body, you do have a lot of control over how much you’re exposed to them through diet. By avoiding AGE-forming foods such as animal products and processed foods, you can minimize your intake and protect your body from further harm. You can also reduce your exposure by embracing healthier cooking methods, reducing or eliminating added sugars, and choosing antioxidant-rich plant foods like berries, spices, nuts, cruciferous vegetables, citrus fruits, and green tea.

Tell us in the comments:

• What are some foods that you’ve cut back on or eliminated for health reasons?
• What foods that counteract glycation do you regularly eat?
• What’s one anti-AGE food that you can begin to add to your diet?

Featured Image: iStock.com/frantic00

Read Next:

• How to Avoid Temptation & Slay the Sugary Beast

The post What Are AGEs & How Do You Avoid Them in Food? appeared first on Food Revolution Network.

And then there’s Tom Brady, the recently (twice) retired quarterback widely regarded as the best to ever play the game, with seven Super Bowl wins to his credit. Brady’s latest retirement came at the age of 45 — 23 full seasons after getting chased, hit, and slammed to the turf by the world’s most scary 6’3”, 310-pound opponents.

In addition to genetic explanations, or just plain luck, there’s a third (and most likely) possibility as to how Brady pulled this off. Since 2004, Brady has been eating an entirely whole-food diet that’s largely plant-based, which has allowed him to maintain muscle mass and recover quickly from injuries.

So what’s the connection between diet and muscle health? What about Brady’s diet, in particular, contributed to his health and career longevity? And also, if you’re not a professional athlete, why should you care about building and maintaining muscle mass as you go through life?

Let’s “tackle” that last question first.

Why Building Muscle Is Important for Good Health

Strong muscles are important for everyone, even if you’re not an athlete, bodybuilder, or your family’s designated jar opener. Being strong allows you to support your body in various situations and positions, and allows you to perform essential movements like lifting, gripping, bending, and pulling.

Stronger muscles produce stronger bones and joints, which can help prevent injury, as well as stave off degenerative bone diseases like osteoporosis. But increasing muscle mass and strength can also prevent chronic diseases that are seemingly unrelated to your ability to do bicep curls and squats.

Stronger muscles aid your metabolism, which makes sense if you think about the fact that one of the main functions of metabolism is to get fuel to those muscles. One 2013 study found that bigger, stronger muscles actually combated insulin resistance and prevented the development of type 2 diabetes in mice. (Our view on the use of animals in medical research is here.)

The need to maintain muscle mass becomes more critical as you age because muscle loss occurs naturally with aging. As much as it pains me to write this, muscles start deteriorating in your 30s. Between ages 40 and 60, most people lose an average of 8% of their muscle mass every decade. After 60, the loss typically accelerates at an even faster rate.

Let’s drive home the seriousness of muscle loss by using its scary medical name: sarcopenia (from the Greek sarco, meaning flesh, and penia, meaning poverty). Studies show that sarcopenia comes with many health consequences: People get diseases sooner, move less easily, and can die earlier.

Muscle strength and mass are even associated with a lower risk of cognitive decline and dementia. So leg day may actually turn out to be brain day.

So what are some of the best ways to build muscle?

How Do You Build Muscle?

I know this is Food Revolution Network, but I’ve got to start by telling you that you probably can’t build much muscle in the kitchen (unless you’re lifting weights in there, or have the world’s heaviest cast iron pans). The best way to grow your muscles (here’s another scienc-y word — hypertrophy — to describe that phenomenon) is through exercise. And, in particular, the kind of exercise known as resistance training.

Resistance training is any physical activity that causes the muscles to work against some opposing force (like a weight). There are two main varieties: isometric and isotonic. Isometric exercises keep joints still, while the muscle group strains against the resistance. Examples of isometric exercises include planks, wall sits, held yoga poses, and so on. In other words, your muscles are working, or you collapse downward (because that’s where gravity wants you).

Isotonic exercises involve moving muscle groups against some resistance. Examples include push-ups, sit-ups, and lifting weights.

You can combine isometric and isotonic training by, for example, resting at the top of a push-up before going down again, or holding a squat near the bottom for a few seconds before straightening your legs.

Do You Have to Use Heavy Weights?

Many people believe that for weight training to effectively build strength and mass, you need to lift heavy weights. Hence the oft-repeated (though misleading) saying: “No pain, no gain.” But in one recent study, people in their middle age, who opted for lifting lighter weights, gained as much strength and muscle growth as those who favored significantly heavier weights. These findings challenge the prevailing notions in the fitness community, which often advocate that only substantial weights can yield effective results.

As well, there is another groundbreaking research study, which stands as the most comprehensive meta-analytical review on resistance training to date. Remarkably, it found that there isn’t a singular superior way to lift weights. It didn’t matter whether people engaged in routines featuring heavy or light weights, nor if they engaged in frequent or infrequent sessions and sets. Everyone experienced marked enhancements in muscular strength and mass – regardless of their age or gender — if they put in the time. These findings highlight the universal efficacy of resistance training in sculpting a stronger, more muscular physique for anyone committed to the process.

Unfortunately for the couch potatoes of the world, however, just thinking about the gym or buying a gym membership or even walking in the front door and buying a smoothie, doesn’t help all by itself. You have to actually use the weights.

How Hypertrophy Works

Let’s get back to that term hypertrophy (which, remember, is the fancy word for muscle growth and not a high-strung, gold-plated figure on a pedestal) and examine what has to happen biochemically for it to occur.

To put it simply, resistance training grows muscle cells first by damaging them and allowing them to recover, and then repairing them. When you use muscles beyond their current capacity, they respond by sustaining “micro-tears” (rhymes with bears, not fears — perhaps because they aren’t actually crying, although sometimes it might feel that way). Then during recovery, your body repairs these tears with combinations of proteins and hormones to help them grow back bigger and stronger.

This is known as adaptation; it’s like your muscles are going, “Wowza, that load was uncomfortably heavy. We’d better grow stronger just in case an even bigger challenge comes along next week.” And the key trigger of adaptation is volume: the total weight lifted during a given exercise. The higher your volume, all other things being equal, the more hypertrophy, and the stronger and bigger your muscles become.

Load also matters. There’s evidence that fewer repetitions of heavier weights cause more micro-tears and leads to greater hypertrophy — although experts caution that this shouldn’t be your only style of workout.

Frequency is also important. Working your muscles on a regular basis, and changing up the specific exercises, enhances muscular adaptation and thereby facilitates them growing stronger.

Diet and Muscle Growth

Caption: Vanessa Espinoza, Vegan Athlete, Personal Trainer, and Nutrition Coach

So resistance training is the first step in building muscles. But as we’ve just seen, muscles don’t get built when we lift weights or hold planks. Rather, that’s where they get torn down.

Muscles rebuild and grow during recovery, with a basic recipe of rest plus nutrition. The food you eat gets turned into the proteins and hormones that grow your muscles and lead to adaptation, as well as the energy required to fuel the process and to allow you to repeat workouts again and again.

Food has a lot of different jobs to do when it comes to building muscle. And one of the most important is to provide amino acids to replace the ones damaged during exercise. The macronutrient source of amino acids is our pal protein. That’s why athletes need lots of protein.

But while protein is necessary, there are many other nutrients that also contribute to muscle growth. And too much of the “wrong” kind of protein can actually damage your health and reduce your longevity.

The Role of Protein in Building Muscle

When you consume foods that contain protein, you digest them into their component amino acids, which your body uses as the building blocks for various tissues, enzymes, and hormones that keep you going. In the context of resistance training, protein is necessary for muscle building and repair to occur after exercises are complete. And eating protein shortly after exercising has been shown to support muscle synthesis — although researchers disagree on both the optimal amount of protein and the timing window that leads to the best results.

On the other hand, eating too much protein (or more than your body needs) can lead to a variety of health issues, potentially shortening your life.

Excess protein is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and stroke, as your body lacks a mechanism for storing protein (unlike carbohydrates, which get stored as glycogen, and fats, which get stored as fat). So if you consume more protein than your body can use, it either gets broken down for energy or converted into fat — and both processes can be hard on your body.

The majority of people eating the modern industrialized diet are already eating too much protein. And many of them are doing so based on the erroneous belief that if some protein is good, then more must be better. To calculate how much protein you really need, follow the steps in this comprehensive article on plant-based protein.

Why Animal Protein May Not Be the Best for Your Health

The source of your protein matters as well. The ill effects of excess protein are almost exclusively found in people over-consuming animal protein. While there’s a common misconception that animal protein is nutritionally superior to plant protein, and that people — especially athletes — who eat a plant-based diet probably aren’t getting enough protein, that myth has been comprehensively debunked.

Not only does a diet rich in plant protein provide adequate amounts of all of the essential amino acids, it also protects the body from too much insulin-like growth factor 1. IGF-1, as it’s known by its friends, is a hormone produced from protein that helps control the growth and development of organs, muscles, and tissues in the body.

IGF-1 is crucial for your body’s development when you’re young, and plays a role in hypertrophy as well, but too much of it can negatively affect your health. High IGF-1 levels are associated with increased cancer risk, for example. And animal protein, but not plant protein, spikes IGF-1 levels in your body.

B Vitamins and Muscles

Protein isn’t the only important nutrient when it comes to muscle building and athletic performance. B vitamins also play a role. Your body needs them to convert proteins and sugars into energy, as well as for synthesizing and repairing the red blood cells that carry oxygen to the rebuilding muscles.

Two vitamins in the B family, folate (B9) and vitamin B12, are critical cofactors in energy production and in the rebuilding and repair of muscle tissue damaged by physical activity. Folate, in particular, has been associated with muscle strength in large-scale population studies. And there’s an association between niacin (a form of vitamin B3) and vitamin B6 intake and physical strength in older people.  And vitamin B12 helps regulate levels of homocysteine, a by-product of protein metabolism.

Carbs and Muscle Growth

When it comes to getting swole (or maintaining muscle mass), we can’t forget about carbohydrates. They’re the principal energy source that we use to move, so we need them to fuel our workouts. Carbs also stimulate insulin production, a powerful anabolic hormone (meaning that it stimulates growth, including that of muscles).

And if your workouts involve endurance activities, dietary carbohydrates can support and enhance your performance, since they’re your muscles’ preferred energy source during moderate- to high-intensity activity.

This is why many endurance athletes engage in the practice of “carb loading” prior to the start of their event.

Fat and Muscle Growth

You also need to consume some healthy fats to support muscle growth. These include monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, and omega-3 fatty acids, which also promote the production of muscle-building hormones. Compared to the saturated fat in animal products, polyunsaturated fats are more likely to promote gains in lean muscle mass as opposed to being stored as fat.

A Supplement to Consider: Creatine Monohydrate

Many weightlifters and bodybuilders supplement with creatine monohydrate to aid muscle growth. And unlike some other supposed performance-enhancing supplements sold at the gym (or in shady online infomercials), there’s actually plenty of evidence to support its effectiveness.

A 2022 meta-analysis of 16 randomized controlled trials of creatine monohydrate supplementation and muscle gain found that people — especially those who were young and healthy — who trained hard achieved greater muscle growth than those who trained similarly but did not supplement.

You might be thinking, but hold on a minute! There are other substances that grow muscles but come with some nasty and potentially life-shortening side effects — for example, anabolic steroids. They’re notorious for helping perfectly talented mortals to win epically long bicycle races and break home run records while increasing their odds of premature heart attacks and strokes, liver disease, kidney failure, and psychiatric imbalances.

Is creatine another “Faustian bargain,” helping to grow muscles today at the expense of health tomorrow?

In a word, no. Current research not only finds no dangers but actually supports taking creatine to improve, of all things, cognition and brain health. And the gains are particularly impressive in vegetarians, who, by virtue of avoiding meat, typically have less creatine in their diets and their tissues.

In 2003, researchers published a study showing improvement in both memory and intelligence tests in vegetarians who consumed five grams of creatine a day for six weeks. And a 2011 study found that vegetarians who supplemented with 20 grams of creatine monohydrate for just 5 days improved their memories compared with those taking a placebo.

Both Exercise and a Healthy Diet Will Help You Gain Muscle

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A post shared by Torre Washington IFBB Pro (@torre.washington)

Caption: Torre Washington, Vegan Competitive Bodybuilder & Fitness Coach

To summarize so far: Weight-bearing exercise by itself won’t build muscle unless supported by your diet. Diet alone can’t build muscle unless you’re also stressing your muscles through resistance training. But when you combine the right kind, frequency, and intensity of exercise with a healthy diet, you can build and maintain muscle mass throughout your life.

There are dozens of professional plant-based athletes who prove that both muscle mass and performance aren’t hindered by not including animal products. In addition to Tom Brady and a bunch of Tennessee Titans in the NFL, there have been Olympic weightlifters (Kendrick Farris), tennis greats (Venus Williams), basketball players (Chris Paul), soccer stars (Alex Morgan), and Olympic cyclists (Dotsie Bausch).

Even the most famous bodybuilder of all time, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has “terminated” the meat-heavy diet of his professional lifting days in favor of a mostly plant-based diet. The actor who delivered the iconic put-down “You hit like a vegetarian” in the 2013 movie Escape Plan has more recently been promoting a plant-based diet, especially for bodybuilders and other athletes in the second half of life.

And closer to home, I work out regularly with my dad, John Robbins, who is now 76 and still stronger than me (and I’m no weakling, thank you very much). One of my life goals, in addition to bringing about a food revolution of healthy, ethical, and sustainable food for all, is to bench press more weight than my dad before he hits 100!

Best Plant-Based Foods to Build Muscle

So let’s get to the details. What are some of the best foods to help preserve and even increase your muscle mass and strength?

1. Legumes

Both beans and lentils are good sources of plant-based protein and complex carbohydrates, as well as providing dietary folate.

For more on beans and how to use them, see our article here.

For more on lentils and how to add them to your diet, see our article here.

2. Tempeh

Tempeh, a fermented soybean cake that originated in Indonesian cuisine, delivers plant-based protein and a variety of B vitamins, with the added bonus that the fermentation it’s undergone may help make its nutrients more bioavailable.

For much more about tempeh, see our article here.

3. Nuts and Seeds

Nuts and seeds are high in protein and healthy fats, as well as folate and vitamin B6.

Here’s a comprehensive article on nuts and your health.

And if you’d like to find out about making your own nut and seed butters, this article has got you covered.

4. Quinoa

Quinoa, a pseudocereal originally cultivated in the Andes region of South America, is a gluten-free whole grain with a nutty, creamy taste. It’s high in protein, including all nine of the essential amino acids, and provides complex carbohydrates as well.

For more on quinoa (including how to pronounce it), check out our article here.

5. Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes can’t be beat for the delicious way they deliver long-acting complex carbohydrates, as well as vitamins B3, B5, and B6.

For everything you didn’t realize you wanted to know about sweet potatoes and your health, here’s an article dedicated to these terrific tubers.

6. Oats

Oats provide a ready source of glucose to muscles while still being low glycemic (i.e., not spiking blood sugar), in addition to biotin (B7), vitamin B1, and protein. A 2020 study found that oatmeal eaten before a high-intensity workout actually blocked the formation of some of the inflammatory compounds that typically form after such exercise.

Find out more about the health benefits and environmental considerations of oats.

Muscle-Building Recipes

You probably don’t need fancy (and expensive) formulas to enhance your athletic performance. All you need is a healthy, energizing, and muscle-enhancing diet to support your fitness goals. From hearty plant-based proteins to energizing and B vitamin-rich greens to fiber-rich carbohydrates, these nutrient-dense recipes make a great template for a performance-enhancing meal plan and are a delicious way to enjoy the key nutrients required to thrive on a plant-based diet.

1. Simple Homemade Granola

Simple Homemade Granola is an easy-to-prepare breakfast cereal or midday snack that fits right into a healthy diet for peak performance. This lightly sweetened crunch-fest offers plenty of fiber, healthy fat, and plant protein that results in a delicious, wholesome recipe to make again and again. Plus, the combination of fiber-rich oats and protein-packed nuts and seeds makes it a highly nutritious way to support muscle recovery and growth!

2. Plant Protein-Powered Salad

Boasting 20 grams of plant protein per serving, our Plant Protein-Powered Salad contains healthy fats, fiber, and a spectrum of phytonutrients. This salad is a great example of how you can optimize nutrition for muscle growth while meeting your protein needs with ease. What’s more, this salad is nourishing and satisfying!

3. Tempeh Sausage Pasta

Tempeh Sausage Pasta hits all the right notes for a wholesome meal that has tons of flavor and nutritional value. Tempeh is a hearty plant protein that takes on any flavor you add to it. In this case, savory herbs and spices transform tempeh into meaty sausage crumbles. The result is a healthy and delicious meat substitute that gets even better with the addition of red tomato sauce and pasta. Essentially, this is an all-in-one meal with high-quality plant-based protein, fiber-rich carbohydrates, and vitamin-rich veg that makes eating for muscle building simple and delicious!

4. Hearty and Healing Lentil Burgers

Hearty and Healing Lentil Burgers do double duty. They’re hearty and savory enough to leave you feeling satisfied and nourishing enough to support your fitness goals. Plus, there are plenty of B vitamins, iron, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and lots of plant protein and beneficial fiber in every delectable bite. This is a perfect meal to pile high with even more nutritious veggie toppings to take its nutrient quotient to the next level.

5. Peanut Butter Smoothie for Weight Gain

Creamy peanut butter pairs surprisingly well with leafy greens in this nutrition-maximizing blender creation. In addition to spinach and peanut butter, the banana and dates ensure that it’s naturally sweet and delicious. Plus, this is a great post-training liquid meal thanks to healthy servings of protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats, which work together to help replenish your body and keep you feeling energized!

Building Muscle on a Plant-Based Diet Is Possible!

Building muscle is necessary for strength and important for overall health. And it becomes especially important with age. To build muscle, you need a combination of both exercise and nutrition.

Protein, as well as B vitamins, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats, all contribute to muscle mass and strength. Whole foods, plant-based sources of these nutrients can help your body to meet its needs while bringing down inflammation. And unlike foods of animal origin, plant-based foods can help protect you from chronic diseases.

By including some of these foods and recipes, along with getting in resistance training and other forms of strength training exercise, you can build and maintain muscle while laying the groundwork for a long and strong life.

Tell us in the comments:

• Are you an athlete, or do you work out regularly?

• Now that you’ve read this article, do you understand how to build muscle on a plant-based diet?

• What’s your favorite post-workout meal?

Featured Image: iStock.com/Hispanolistic

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The post Building Muscle on a Plant-Based Diet: The Best Foods & Nutrients to Eat appeared first on Food Revolution Network.

It started with Austrian clergyman and scientist Gregor Mendel, the acknowledged “father of genetics” (side note: isn’t it weird that historians of science didn’t also identify a mother, since that’s kind of how genetics works?), who unraveled many of the secrets of genes and inherited characteristics. His work, which formed the basis for most of our modern understanding of genetics, was carried out on pea plants.

And these days, scientists are once again turning to peas with great interest, this time in attempts to solve some of humanity’s most pressing problems: climate chaos, chronic disease, and malnutrition. And so far, the humble pea is proving more than capable of delivering.

At the center of these efforts is pea protein, which stands poised to replace animal-based protein in multiple industries. Major brands like Beyond Meat have made huge financial and technological bets on their ability to use plant-based protein to create meat analogues that can fool even the most devout meat-lover.

But unlike that steaming bowl of green mushy peas, pea protein is a factory-produced substance, not a whole food. And we hear often that we should be eating food that comes from plants (as in, plant foods), not food manufactured in plants (as in, factories). So what’s the truth here? Is pea protein healthy? Can it truly provide adequate protein or replace animal protein? And what’s preferable: pea protein powder or isolates, or whole food sources?

The Rise of Pea Protein

Pea protein is having its moment; it’s now one of the most popular protein options in the plant-based world. And for several good reasons: It’s highly bioavailable, it offers great nutritional value, it greatly reduces land use and greenhouse gas emissions compared to animal-based protein production, it’s less expensive to produce, and it can provide significant health benefits.

Of course, not everyone needs an additional protein source outside of the food they eat. While vegans and vegetarians are far too familiar with the question, “But where do you get your protein?” analysis of common foods shows that if you’re consuming enough calories from plant-based foods, you’re almost certainly consuming enough protein as well.

While many people get plenty of protein — often, far too much — it’s also true that protein needs vary. Some people, like the elderly or those with particular conditions, may need an additional or alternative protein source. And while soy has traditionally been that alternative — think tofu, tempeh, soy-based hot dogs and burgers, and textured vegetable protein (TVP) — many people are allergic to soy or otherwise want to limit their consumption of it. (For more on soy, see our article, here.)

So is it a good idea to include pea protein in your diet? It’s time to take a PEA-k at this lovely little legume.

What Is Pea Protein?

Pea protein comes from yellow peas, or Pisum sativum, grown in Europe and North America. The creation of pea protein happens by separating the protein from the pea starch and fiber in a factory. As a result, it’s not a whole food.

Processors can output two main types of protein: pea protein isolate and textured pea protein. The isolate, with a protein content of 85–90%, is used primarily in protein powders.

Textured pea protein serves mainly as a plant-based meat alternative. It’s versatile and can take the form of fibers, shreds, chunks, bits, granules, slices, or similar food forms. Since heat application occurs during processing, its protein content is lower than that of pea protein isolate (typically around 65–80%).

Pea Protein vs Animal Protein

So what’s the deal with pea protein as an alternative to and potential replacement for animal protein? As plant-based meat has improved meteorically in culinary quality in the past decade, the animal agriculture industry has been funding studies and pumping out press releases decrying this “artificial” product as vastly inferior to “natural” meat. But what’s the truth beyond the hype?

Are Pea and Animal Proteins Nutritionally Similar?

There are longstanding concerns that plant proteins are inferior to animal proteins on three counts. Let’s take a look at them.

“Incomplete Proteins”

First, there’s the assumption that plant-based proteins are “incomplete.” That is, while animal protein contains all 20 amino acids that make up the human body (which makes sense because, while we’re encouraged to forget the fact, we ourselves are animals, too), plants were thought to provide some but not all of the 20. And while humans can synthesize 11 of them, that leaves 9 “essential” amino acids that we must get from our diets.

That belief led to the practice of “protein combining” among vegetarians in the 1970s, making meals of so-called “complementary proteins” such as rice and beans, whole grain bread and peanut butter, hummus (chickpeas and tahini), and so on. (To be fair, these are all amazing meals that do provide a lot of nutritional benefits; it’s just not necessary to consume these various plant foods simultaneously to get them.)

While long ago debunked, the concept of complementary proteins reinforced the idea in the popular imagination that consuming a vegetarian diet was inviting protein deficiency. The truth is, all plants do contain all 20 amino acids; the only potential issue is the ratios of specific ones. Because your body makes complex proteins from all 20, if your diet is low in a particular amino acid, it becomes the limiting factor in protein synthesis.

Grains, for example, tend to be low in lysine. Other amino acids of concern include methionine, isoleucine, threonine, and tryptophan. But a varied plant-based diet can provide adequate sources of all of these.

In other words, eating a variety of foods is important. Combining specific foods in any given meal is not.

And, it turns out, pea protein has a very well-balanced amino acid profile, with highly bioavailable forms of all the amino acids. It’s high in lysine, which makes it a perfect complement to a grain-strong diet. In fact, pea protein is one of the plant-based proteins that meet the amino acid requirements of the alphabet soup of acronyms that is the WHO, FAO, and UNU.

What About Building Muscle?

Some people believe that whey protein and other forms of animal protein are necessary to build muscle. And there’s no doubt that many bodybuilders consume large amounts of animal-based protein. But do they need to?

At the time of writing, many studies have shown that pea protein produces similar results to an animal-based protein when it comes to athletic performance and fitness results. This finding validates the lived experience of many plant-based athletes as well.

How does pea protein compare to whey protein? A 2015 study looked at a muscle-building intervention among young men ages 18–35. One experimental group took pea protein, while the second used whey protein. To keep things clear, there was a control group that received a placebo. The pea group was the only one with significant increases in muscle size — beating both the whey protein group and the placebo.

More Bioavailable Amino Acids?

It’s widely believed that, because animal tissue is so similar to human tissue, amino acids from animal protein are absorbed more fully by the body, and therefore are more bioavailable. Of course, by this logic, the healthiest human diet would be cannibalism (at least from the perspective of the diner, if not the dinner). But is it true?

It turns out that animal protein is typically about 10–20% more readily absorbed than plant protein, generally speaking. But this may not be the advantage many people assume it is. Because there are some compelling reasons to favor plant protein over animal protein sources — as we’re about to see.

Is Pea Protein Healthier?

Well, yes, for a bunch of reasons.

Avoid Harmful Dietary Compounds

For one thing, pea protein doesn’t form harmful compounds in your digestive system. Meat — in particular, red meat — promotes the formation of TMAO, a nasty compound associated with the development of multiple inflammatory conditions. Animal proteins are also high in the accurately acronym-ed “AGEs” — Advanced Glycation End-products — which form during the cooking process when animal proteins are in proximity to sugars and fats at high heat. AGEs can lead to type 2 diabetes and heart disease, among other maladies.

Animal protein also comes with heme iron, which is much more easily absorbed into the body than the plant-based, nonheme variety. While this sounds like a good thing, it often isn’t. Heme iron intake is associated with the development of several cancers, including ​​colorectal, pancreatic, and lung cancer, as well as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Pea protein, and plant proteins, in general, may also be better for heart health and longevity than animal proteins. As a result, you may be able to reduce your risk of chronic disease by eating pea protein instead of whey or other animal proteins.

Pea Protein and Gut Health

Second, pea protein is better for gut health and weight management than whey protein. For example, it can support the growth of two types of beneficial gut bacteria: Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria. In several studies, people who consumed pea protein felt very full after eating, which tends to discourage overeating and subsequent weight gain. It also contributed to reducing the blood sugar spike that occurs after eating.

And pea protein is also being studied as a tool in helping to prevent irritable bowel disease, with early successes reported in mouse trials. (Our view on the use of animals in medical research is here.)

A Major Allergen Alternative

Pea protein also shows promise as a supplemental protein for people with two common food allergies: dairy and soy.

Pea protein isn’t officially hypoallergenic, as there are some people who suffer from pea allergies. Nevertheless, it can be an alternative protein source for those allergic to pea’s legume cousins: soy and peanuts. Its advantage may be short-lived, however, as increased exposure to a protein often leads to increased sensitivity among a population.

But it beats soy in another respect as well: most of the world’s soy is now bio-engineered (BE; aka “GMO”). It’s true that scientists have been tinkering with pea plant genes since old Gregor Mendel in the 19th century, but so far, it’s been resistant to effective modification using modern gene-splicing technology. Research on a strain of BE peas was discontinued in Australia in the early 2000s after scientists discovered that it caused an immune response in mice. For anyone who prefers to be non-GMO, pea beats soy unless the soy is organic.

Is Pea Protein More Sustainable?

In addition to being a potential boon to the health of individuals, pea protein gaining ground on animal protein can also lead to giant environmental steps forward. Let’s just look at one aspect of pea protein’s environmental impact: greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Right now, animal agriculture is responsible for a large share of the world’s GHG output. Through methane released via cow “eructations” (there’s a less technical word for that which my kids were very fond of around age 3), huge amounts of carbon released through deforestation to make room for grazing land, and highly inefficient conversion of animal feed into animal protein, animal agriculture is a major driver of climate chaos.

Livestock provides only 18% of the food calories eaten by humans and 37% of the protein, yet it uses over 83% of all farmland. Even the lowest-impact beef is responsible for six times more greenhouse gases than plant-based proteins like peas. And in terms of land requirements, it’s far worse: It takes 36 times more land to grow the same amount of protein from beef as it does from plants. It’s clear that beef farming is a huge waste of resources, almost like buying a new iPhone and then smashing it just to get your hands on the roughly two bucks worth of gold it contains.

Peas, in particular, have a tiny carbon footprint when compared to any type of animal protein. One hundred grams of protein produced from peas emits 0.4 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2eq), while the same amount of protein from beef creates 35 kilograms of CO2eq — nearly 90 times as much! Peas also have a massively smaller water footprint, requiring only 71 gallons of water per pound compared to beef’s 1,847 gallons per pound.

And of course, peas also don’t contribute to animal cruelty.

Pea Protein Dangers and Downsides to Consider

Things are not all rainbows and unicorns in pea protein land, however. There are at least two downsides to the heavy consumption of pea protein.

Pea Protein Heavy Metals

The first is that many plant protein powders may contain contaminants and toxins, including heavy metals and other known carcinogens. These typically include things like cadmium, lead, arsenic, and BPA. This fact isn’t limited to pea protein but can occur across the board in food. Plants absorb lots of things from the soil, including heavy metals. That’s why their levels of contamination can be higher than those found in whey-based proteins.

One way to address this is to visit a pea protein manufacturer’s website and look for information about what is actually in their product. Specifically, look for any third-party testing for heavy metals and toxins — and certification they may have received.

Is Pea Protein Processed?

We’ve seen that pea protein is superior in many respects to animal protein sources. But it’s still a highly processed food. Processing involves taking things out (like starch, fiber, and water). And it often involves putting other things in, too.

Pea protein isolate, textured pea protein, and the products made from them may also contain natural and artificial flavors, fillers, preservatives, refined oils, and sugar.​​

So while plant-based protein powders, meats, and dairy products can be helpful for transitioning to a plant-based diet, it’s still often preferable to get the bulk of your protein from whole food sources. Whether you choose to include pea protein in your diet is up to you. But instead of eating pea protein, you could eat actual peas and reap many of the same benefits plus more that come with the fiber, vitamins, and minerals that your body will also appreciate.

Even if mushy peas aren’t your thing, there’s split pea soup, stir-fries with peas, peas and carrots, pasta and peas, fresh pea salad, and even green pea hummus.

You can find out more about peas, along with three yummy recipes to get you started, in our comprehensive article on peas. And remember — peas are just one of the awesome foods in the legume family.

In fact (and not many people know this), beans were John Lennon’s favorite vegetable… up until he decided to give peas a chance.

Giving Peas a Chance

Pea protein is a popular plant-based protein, often used as an alternative to whey protein powders or as an ingredient in meat substitutes. Although it was once thought that pea protein was inferior to animal protein, it turns out that it’s plenty nutritious and effective for building muscle, and that it may be better for your health since it doesn’t contribute to the formation of TMAO and AGEs. It’s also produced more sustainably and has a much lower carbon and water footprint than animal proteins.

Although there are some risks to consider when consuming pea protein products, overall they can offer a good source of protein for those who want or need extra protein in their diets. But for most people, it’s probably not necessary to consume pea protein. Getting your protein from whole plant sources is often healthier, tastier, and more cost-effective.

Tell us in the comments:

• Have you ever used pea protein powder? What was your goal in doing so?
• Do you eat plant-based meat alternatives made with pea protein?
• What are your favorite sources of plant-based protein?

Read Next:

• 3 Things That Shouldn’t Be in Your Protein Powder (But Probably Are)
• Are Peas Good for You? — What You Need to Know About Peas

The post What Is Pea Protein & Should You Eat It? appeared first on Food Revolution Network.

Health Starts in the Gut

Hippocrates once stated, “all disease begins in the gut.” Now more than 2,000 years later, we know that he was onto something hugely important.

Your gut microbiome plays a critical role in everything from immune support and energy levels to metabolism, hormone balance, and longevity.

And yet, even in a world with gut health supplements and cookbooks flooding store shelves, most of us have little understanding of what gut health actually is, and the simple steps we can take today to create a thriving gut microbiome to support long-term health.

In this article, we’ll take a look at the latest research on prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics, whether you should supplement, and how these nutrients affect your gut function.

The Importance of Gut Health (Even for People Who Eat Mostly Plants)

Your gut microbiome is a mini-ecosystem, with trillions of tiny bacteria, yeast, fungi, protozoa, and archaea, all working together. These bacteria have important functions like food digestion, the synthesis of vitamins, and the production of neurotransmitters (such as serotonin, dopamine, and GABA) that play a key role in determining your mood. The more diverse your gut ecosystem is, the more it thrives. And with a thriving gut, you also improve communication with systemic organs like your heart, liver, and brain, and help build a robust immune system to prevent and attack disease.

People who eat a plant-based (or plant-centered) diet have a huge leg up when it comes to gut health because whole plant foods are rich sources of fiber, micronutrients, and macronutrients that fuel a vibrant microbiome.

But the diversity of those foods also matters (more on that later). And depending on your health and diet history, there might be a lot more to gut health than just eating more plants.

Understanding gut health starts by understanding what feeds it — in particular, prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics.

Understanding Probiotics and Why Probiotic Supplements are Everywhere

There are more than 8,000 unique bacterial strains in the human gut microbiome. Some of them are essential for everyone, others help to remedy specific conditions, and others still may actually be wreaking havoc on your body.

Some of these bacterial strains are part of what are called probiotics. And they can be a key to unlocking long-term gut health by helping create a vibrant, diverse, and well-balanced community of beneficial microorganisms.

The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics defines probiotics as: “live microorganisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host.”

These microscopic creatures are generally a good thing. They’re a natural, vital part of your gut. And you receive them in small amounts from dirt, interactions with people (and pets), the food you eat (especially fermented foods), and, quite literally, from everyday life. But they can also be added through probiotic supplements.

Should You Take a Probiotic Supplement?

Probiotic supplements have gained popularity over the past several years, and seemingly for good reason, as probiotics are the living gut bugs your microbiome depends on.

But as more research emerges surrounding the addition of probiotics through a supplement in your diet, the scientific benefits have become more uncertain.

With so many strains of unique bacteria in the gut, there’s no straightforward conclusion as to which probiotic strains are beneficial across the board.

And because we’re all genetically and metabolically unique, what works for one person may not necessarily improve another person’s gut health.

Recommended Probiotic Use: The Latest Research

The American College of Gastroenterology released an updated set of guidelines for probiotic use in 2020 and outlined a few conditions for which adding supplemental forms of additional bacterial strains are supported, including:

• Complications of inflammatory bowel disease.
• Recurrent C. difficile bacterial infection, which can be life-threatening.
• A rare condition occurring in some premature infants born earlier than 37 weeks called necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).

Though they may seem harmless and innocuous to those using probiotics without proper guidance, unintentionally micromanaging the gut microbiome’s balance with the wrong strains can actually worsen gut issues.

How could that be? The many strains of bacteria and yeast living in the gut live in a fine balance, with some much more abundant than others. And “managing” gut health by taking probiotic supplements has the potential to throw this fine balance off.

What About Probiotic Use After Antibiotics?

Many physicians recommend taking probiotic supplements after being prescribed antibiotics, since the job of the antibiotics is to wipe out bacteria without distinguishing the “good” from the “bad.”

But it turns out that this is looking at the problem too simplistically.

It’s true that antibiotics typically remove specific strains of bacteria. But probiotics typically consist of enormous numbers of only a few types of beneficial bacteria. This can end up throwing the microbiome’s natural balance out of whack if the bacterial strains that have been destroyed by the antibiotic aren’t themselves replaced.

In fact, a 2018 study showed that those taking probiotic supplements after taking antibiotics recovered their microbiome balance the slowest when compared with those who took antibiotics without taking probiotics afterward.

That isn’t to say that all probiotic supplements are bad. The truth is just that — it’s complicated. As science continues to evolve in the area of microbiome testing, and we continue to further explore the vast world of the gut microbiome, we will continue to gain insight and clarity into proper management of the gut, and the role that appropriate gut health supplements can play.

For now, resources such as the US Probiotic Guide can provide evidence-based guidance for choosing the most appropriate probiotic strains for specific conditions.

Need a Healthier Gut? Start with Food, Not Supplements

So what can you do if you actually need to take a course of antibiotics, or if you are suspicious your microbiome balance of bacteria and yeast is off?

The first step is usually to repopulate your gut bacteria with nutrient-rich fermented foods and fiber-rich foods.

A 2021 study from Stanford University showed that those consuming the most fermented and fiber-rich plant foods had a more diverse gut microbiome — and a stronger immune system, with decreased inflammatory markers — compared to those who consumed less.

Some of our favorite plant-based fermented foods include:

• Sauerkraut
• Kimchi
• Kombucha without additional sugar added post-fermentation
• Unsweetened water kefir or coconut kefir
• Miso paste (Pro tip: keep it under 200°F by avoiding direct boiling on the stove; whisk the miso with room temperature water in a separate bowl and add to freshly cooked bowls of soup or food)
• Lacto-fermented vegetables (pickled veggies fermented with added bacteria or yeast)
• Dairy-free yogurts with added bacterial and yeast strains, especially lactobacillus and bifidobacteria, two of the most abundant strains in the human colon or large intestine
• Dairy-free fermented cheeses with added active cultures
• Tempeh, raw or lightly cooked, kept under 200°F
• Unpasteurized apple cider vinegar, which contains “the mother”

(Here is FRN’s in-depth article on fermented foods.)

What About Prebiotics?

When you eat, you’re not just feeding yourself but trillions of organisms in your body — bacteria, fungi, viruses, archaea, and protozoa — through something called a prebiotic.

On average, we each have two to five pounds of bacteria in our gut microbiome. These bacteria need food, just like we do — and that’s where prebiotics come into the picture.

The word prebiotic means “life-giving,” and that’s exactly their function in your microbiome.

Prebiotics can be defined as “nondigestible food ingredients that promote the growth of beneficial microorganisms in the intestines.” In other words, they serve as food for the good gut bacteria and yeast you need to have an optimally healthy microbiome.

And here’s the key: the main prebiotics are soluble dietary fiber.

Where’s the best place to find prebiotics? Fiber-rich foods like whole plants, which we will delve into more below.

6 Critical Ways Prebiotics Impact Your Gut Health

What are some benefits of prebiotics for your gut health and body as a whole?

1. Prebiotics Grow and Protect the Probiotic Bacteria Already Inside of You

You know those expensive probiotic supplements you can order online or find at the health food store? Most of those probiotic strains are probably already inside you, and you can increase their abundance with each meal.

The problem comes from not nurturing these microbial strains in your gut.

According to the latest research, prebiotic fiber is key in feeding and breeding the amazing microbes we already have inside us. As long as we keep them alive, thriving, and doing what they do best inside our bodies, we can continue reaping all of their health benefits.

2. Prebiotics Help with Nutrient Absorption

Though our bodies cannot technically absorb prebiotics, research shows they can still greatly impact how we get crucial nutrients. Thanks to prebiotics, we can absorb higher amounts of calcium, iron, potassium, B vitamins, and other nutrients. The absorption and bioavailability of these vitamins and minerals also increase in infants and the elderly (two of the most at-risk populations for lower nutrient absorption) when consuming more prebiotic-rich foods.

Studies looking at global populations have even reported a correlation between decreased fractures and osteoporosis in those who consume the most prebiotic fiber — which these studies imply could be even more important to bone health than calcium.

3. Prebiotics Help Prevent Allergies

Many allergies start in childhood. And researchers are finding that experiences in the first 1,000 days of life can have lasting effects. A number of studies are now suggesting that the cause of many allergic diseases in children can be correlated to reduced colonization of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria, two of the most important strains of bacteria in the gut. It turns out that if a baby is breastfed, these strains of bacteria are nourished by the prebiotics in breast milk known as human milk oligosaccharides. Research has shown that children who are not breastfed and not exposed to certain foods in the first few years of life can be at a higher risk of developing food allergies.

In people of all ages, it appears that a diversified diet that’s rich in prebiotic foods can decrease the symptoms of allergies.

4. Prebiotics Help with Metabolic Related Disease

Due in large part to the consumption of processed foods that are low in fiber, there is a global epidemic of what is called metabolic syndrome (a condition represented by a confluence of type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood pressure, high waist circumference, and obesity), especially in more economically-developed nations.

But where we see an increase in prebiotic, fiber-rich foods, we see a decrease in both the incidence of metabolic syndrome and metabolic-related diseases.

Multiple studies have found that dietary fiber can lower cholesterol, help with gallbladder and liver health, reduce the glycemic response of food, increase satiety, and balance triglycerides, all of which are vital to preventing and reversing metabolic syndrome.

5. Prebiotics Help Your Hormones

Gut microbes produce hormones that are vital to optimal health, including estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and more. And they need adequate nourishment (prebiotics again!) in order to fulfill this critical function in your body.

In this beneficial relationship, prebiotics help to keep the beneficial microbes happy and fed so the gut microbiome can continue creating, recycling, and balancing hormones in our bodies. Prebiotics have also been shown in studies to not only affect microbes in the gut, but in surrounding organ systems like the vagina, testes, ovaries, uterus, bladder, and the hormones they balance.

6. Prebiotics Decrease your Risk of Death

Increasing plant foods in the diet is also associated with a decrease in all-cause mortality, as seen from a meta-analysis of current prospective cohort studies.

This means that simply by eating more plants (which are by far nature’s richest sources of prebiotic fiber), you reduce your risk of death from the top five chronic disease killers, including lifestyle diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and type 2 diabetes.

That Sounds Great, But How Much Prebiotic Fiber Do You Need Daily?

The basic recommendation for overall fiber intake is 22–28 grams per day for women and 28–34 grams per day for men, according to the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

This recommendation assumes that if you get the recommended amount of fiber, you’re getting all of the prebiotics you need. However, if you’re not eating a lot of whole plant foods, but instead are getting your fiber from Metamucil (a fiber supplement that provides psyllium fiber) or other fiber supplements, you won’t be getting the diversity of fiber types that your microbiome needs to function best on your behalf.

Whole Food Sources of Prebiotics

Prebiotic fiber not only feeds the vital probiotics in your gut, but it also helps keep your digestive tract clean so those probiotics can thrive.

Prebiotic fiber can be broken up into two major categories, which play different roles in the cleaning process — insoluble fiber and soluble fiber. A lot of people think that only soluble fiber is prebiotic, but that’s actually not true. Both soluble and insoluble fiber can be considered prebiotics as long as they provide substrate for bacteria and yeast to ferment.

Insoluble Fiber

Insoluble prebiotic fiber is like the tough broom that clears junk and debris from your digestive tract.

Food sources of insoluble fiber include:

• Chicory Root
• Dandelion
• Garlic
• Barley
• Flaxseeds
• Artichoke
• Almonds
• Onions
• Inulin fiber powder

Soluble Fiber

Soluble prebiotic fiber plays the role of mopping up trouble spots bacteria may have left behind. Some of the top sources include:

• Okra
• Aloe vera juice
• Beans
• Avocados
• Potatoes
• Stone fruit (nectarines, peaches, cherries)
• Pears
• Sunfiber, aka partially hydrolyzed guar gum
• Acacia fiber powder
• Psyllium fiber

There can also be overlap in many of these foods, with some of them containing a balanced amount of both broom (insoluble fiber) and mop-like (soluble fiber) capabilities.

Should You Take a Prebiotic Supplement?

While probiotic supplements are turning out to be less useful than we had once hoped, we’re finding that certain prebiotic foods and supplements seem designed to nurture your existing beneficial bacteria and create an environment for new, healthy, and diverse gut microbes to thrive.

Here are some of the potential benefits of some of the most potent, food-derived prebiotic supplements:

Sunfiber (partially hydrolyzed guar gum — PHGG)

Sunfiber (also known as PHGG) is a unique low-FODMAP (Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols), less fermentable, gluten-free, and soluble prebiotic fiber made from guar beans.

The prebiotic fiber in PHGG appears to simultaneously feed healthy gut bugs while also binding to those that may produce uncomfortable or foul-smelling gas. Studies have shown that PHGG may be helpful in cases of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), histamine intolerance, and more.

Polyphenols (like those found in ginger)

The polyphenol antioxidants and other compounds in ginger appear to support microbiome diversity, have an anti-inflammatory effect, and have anti-ulcer properties.

Ginger has been shown to help with nausea and upper gastrointestinal motility(aka the movement of food through the digestive system) when studied in both IBS populations and pregnant women.

Horse Chestnut

A new prebiotic for many, this herbal remedy has been used for many years in populations around the world. Horse chestnut appears to be helpful in reducing inflammation as well as balancing inflammation-causing gut microbes and inflammation-reducing gut bugs. It also may support motility by decreasing gas produced in the small and large intestines, which reduces bloating, constipation, and straining.

Gum Arabic

Gum arabic or acacia gum is a soluble dietary fiber obtained from the stems and branches of the Acacia senegal and Acacia seyal plants, which grow mainly in Africa. This prebiotic fiber has shown many possible benefits to the gut microbiome, including being linked with an increase in beneficial bifidobacteria and a reduction in inflammatory clostridia bacteria in the colon. A recent study also provided evidence of acacia’s benefits elsewhere in the body, with supplementation leading to a significant improvement in blood pressure, blood glucose, and satiety.

Side Effects of Prebiotics: What You Need to Know

Some people who start taking prebiotic supplements experience discomfort. As integrative gut health dietitians specializing in a host of gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, we see this frequently.

However, despite the possibility of discomfort, GI side effects may actually be showing you they are, in fact, working — your gut just needs a little extra love.

The negative symptoms these foods can elicit are not necessarily from the actual foods but from the lack of efficient movement (aka motility) or gut bug diversity in the microbiome of the person eating them.

Many of the foods and prebiotic supplement extracts we listed are high in fermentable carbohydrates (sugars, starches, and fiber), also known as FODMAPs.

Think of your tolerance to these foods as a test to see how robust your microbiome really is. And you can feel confident that — with the right nurturance — over time, your microbiome can improve and become more tolerant of these wonderful prebiotics.

Let’s Not Forget About Postbiotics

If prebiotics are what feed healthy gut microbes, postbiotics are the bioactive compounds these microbes leave behind. They can pass significant benefits to the host (which in this case, is you!).

Examples of postbiotics include:

• Functional proteins
• Secreted polysaccharides (aka carbohydrate chains)
• Short-chain fatty acids (e.g., acetate, butyrate, propionate)

These byproducts can help with a wide range of functions in the body, including:

• Regulating the immune system
• Reducing tumor formation and growth
• Reducing blood sugar
• Reducing cholesterol and risk for cardiovascular disease
• Repairing the lining of the intestines, reducing intestinal hyperpermeability (aka leaky gut), and instances of or flares of inflammatory bowel disease
• Synthesizing vitamins, including vitamin K
• Increasing nutrient absorption
• Producing about 7–20% of our body’s daily energy

Putting it all Together

If you’re working with digestive health challenges, you may benefit from working with a knowledgeable health care team — including a primary care provider, gastroenterologist, and/or a registered dietitian nutritionist — to help you resolve your specific health challenges. However, there’s a lot that most of us can do on our own that will lead to significant health benefits.

Here are a few final thoughts and tips for creating a thriving gut microbiome:

1. Prebiotics are food for the microbes that live in and on your body. If those microbes are well-fed and taken care of, they will be very happy. And that will help your mood through the gut-brain axis and make you happy, too.
2. At a minimum, aim for the recommended fiber intake from whole plant foods, but including more can bring even greater benefits.
3. Aim for a fiber-rich diet from a diverse array of foods. Shooting for 30 or more unique plants per week can be a great goal.
4. When adding more fiber and plant foods, following the low-and-slow rule is a great way to ease your gut microbiome into dietary changes. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your best gut health won’t be either.
5. If you’re currently suffering from a GI condition or experiencing chronic GI symptoms, it can be very helpful to work with a knowledgeable and compassionate care team who can help you understand the many nuances of repairing gut tissue and facilitating new microbes to help improve overall health.

Tell us in the comments:

• Were you aware of the importance of gut health and how it plays such a major role in your long-term health and well-being?
• Have you considered the importance of prebiotic fibers to feed the probiotics in your gut?
• Do you currently take a gut health supplement, and if so, have you noticed a difference?

Featured Image: iStock.com/BRO Vector

Read Next:

• Why You Need Both Probiotics and Prebiotics for Good Gut Health and Overall Wellness (Plus The Best Food Sources)
• Gut-Health Promoting Foods & Recipes to Nourish Your Microbiome
• Why Your Gut Health Is More Important Than You Probably Think

The post What are Prebiotics, Probiotics, and Postbiotics — and What Do They Do for Your Gut Health? appeared first on Food Revolution Network.

Oregano, which was largely absent from American cooking before the war, is now one of the most popular herbs in the US (and globally). As Italian food conquered the palates of chefs and their patrons, oregano became a staple of home kitchens, with Americans now consuming over 14 million pounds of the herb annually.

Like many herbs, oregano doesn’t just add flavor to your cooking; it also provides many powerful health benefits. In this article, we’ll explore all things oregano. What is it, and where does it come from? What makes oregano so good for you? What are the differences between fresh and dried oregano? And most importantly, what are the best ways to include oregano in your diet?

What Is Oregano?

When cooks talk about oregano, they’re referring to fresh or dried leaves of the oregano plant (Origanum vulgare, if you want to show off or find time traveling to ancient Rome), a woody shrub native to the Mediterranean. Oregano is a member of the mint family (although I don’t recommend adding it to iced tea) and grows well in most temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.

One cool thing about oregano that I didn’t know until researching this article is the etymology of its name. The word oregano comes from two Greek words, oros (mountain) and ganos (brightness or joy). So that gives you a clue about where oregano likes to grow — on mountainsides that get full sun. In colder zones, you can grow oregano as an annual. If your winters are mild, it might succeed as a perennial.

Oregano is a staple flavoring in Italian food, specifically the Mediterranean cuisine of southern Italy. And the plant-based versions of this style of eating are among the healthiest widely-practiced dietary patterns in the world. In fact, two of the Blue Zones (regions where humans live the longest and healthiest lives) — Ikaria, Greece, and Sardinia, Italy — are Mediterranean.

Oregano Nutrition

Like other leafy green herbs, oregano is high in vitamin K1. It also contains small quantities of other vitamins and minerals, including vitamins A, C, and E; B vitamins like B6 and folate; and minerals such as calcium, iron, and potassium.

Also like all leafy greens, fresh oregano contains chlorophyll, which when combined with getting your sunlight on a regular basis, can help naturally regenerate the fat-soluble compound CoQ10. This important compound supports cell growth and energy production, as well as protecting cells from damage.

Terpenes in Oregano

Like many strong-smelling and tasting plants, oregano has pungent leaves largely to protect them from being munched on by critters such as aphids and mites, or becoming colonized by fungal diseases. The chemicals that produce these strong aromas and flavors are called terpenes, and are common to many of the plants we use for essential oils.

Oregano essential oil, which comes from fresh leaves and stems, is a major source of some very potent terpenes. The two major terpenes that make up this essential oil are carvacrol and thymol, which together pack quite a healthy punch. Studies show they have antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antitumor properties.

In case you’re wondering how a chemical produced by a plant specifically to discourage predation can be good for us, it’s probably an example of hormesis. This term refers to the phenomenon that things that can be harmful in big doses can be beneficial in small ones. In this case, it’s theorized that the compounds in oregano that may slightly stress our bodies also stimulate them to engage in healthy maintenance and repair.

Oregano Health Benefits

Oregano can confer significant health benefits. Historically it’s been used both as a culinary and medicinal herb, thanks to its support for the immune system and ability to protect against a wide variety of ailments.

However, almost all the research on the medicinal properties of oregano has looked at essential oil or extracts of oregano, and not the fresh or dried herb you can find in supermarkets. So I want to be clear that while culinary uses of oregano almost certainly provide health benefits, that’s largely an assumption based on its traditional usage and from studies using its more concentrated forms.

My suggestion is to use oregano because you love how it makes your food taste, knowing that it might also have some really cool health benefits. And if you have a condition that could be treatable with oregano oil or extract, ask your healthcare professional about it before using it.

Is Oregano Antiviral?

A 2014 study found that carvacrol, one of the terpenes found in oregano, was highly effective in reducing infectiousness of a human norovirus in lab-grown cell cultures. And in 2020, a team of researchers from Florida discovered that carvacrol could inhibit the HIV virus from entering healthy cells. So it seems that oregano essential oil has antiviral properties.

Does Oregano Kill Parasites?

Cryptosporidium is a highly infectious parasite that lives in the intestines of humans and animals and can be transmitted through drinking water, swimming pools, and hot tubs. Exposure can lead to persistent diarrhea, something we see commonly in children in impoverished settings. Both oregano essential oil and pure carvacrol extracted from oregano have been shown to inhibit the infectivity of cryptosporidium in test tubes. The authors of a 2018 study suggest that oregano oil could be an effective oral treatment for infected children.

Another dangerous parasite is toxoplasma gondii, which can travel through cat litter and cause toxoplasmosis, which can lead to severe developmental disabilities in unborn babies whose mothers are exposed. It’s a big problem because even the most effective medical treatments have high failure rates, and none appear to work on the infection in asymptomatic individuals. Again, carvacrol may come to the rescue here; an in vitro study from 2021 showed that carvacrol stopped toxoplasma gondii from proliferating by changing its shape and inhibiting its ability to move.

Oregano Antibacterial Properties

Continuing on our theme of “Oregano oil protects us from tiny nasty things,” researchers have also discovered that oregano oil can keep harmful bacteria from messing up your digestive tract, lungs, and skin. And oregano oil also may contribute a solution to one of the big problems in modern medicine and public health: multidrug-resistant bacteria.

That is, the widespread use (some would say overuse) of antibiotics, both in clinical settings and in industrial animal agriculture, has led to the development of microbes that can somehow survive exposure to these drugs. A 2018 study found that oregano oil was able to inactivate some multidrug-resistant bacteria, both in lab cultures and in third-degree burn wounds.

One bacterial infection, in particular, has proven itself resistant to antibiotic therapies in a sizable segment of sufferers: Lyme disease. Up to 20% of patients who complete the standard antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease still live with chronic symptoms, sometimes for decades. One theory is that some Lyme bacteria evade or resist the drugs, and are able to stay in the body and cause trouble.

A 2017 study published in Frontiers in Medicine found evidence that several herb-based essential oils, including oregano oil, killed the Lyme bacteria more effectively than current antibiotics. The authors wrote that the three most effective essential oils, those of oregano, cinnamon bark, and clove bud, “…completely eradicated all viable cells without any regrowth in subculture in fresh medium.” Pretty impressive, even for a leafy green.

Is Oregano an Antioxidant?

While oregano itself is not an antioxidant, it does have antioxidant properties. Lab studies conducted in 2016 and 2017 quantified significant antioxidant activity in oregano whose active ingredients were extracted into ethanol. And a 2017 study out of China found that oils taken from oregano leaves and flowers were more potent antioxidants than those from the stems or roots.

Oregano and Cancer

Many studies have found that carvacrol and thymol are capable of thwarting the progression of cancer. They do so via several mechanisms, including induced apoptosis (reminding the damaged cancer cells that they should die for the good of the entire organism), cytotoxicity (being poisonous to cancerous cells), cell cycle arrest (keeping them from duplicating themselves), preventing metastasis, and inhibiting signaling pathways like mTOR from instructing tumors to form.

Cooking with Fresh vs Dried Oregano

OK, time for a sharp U-turn, as we shift from lab studies of the medicinal uses of oregano oils and extracts — to good old oregano in the kitchen. After all, even if you choose not to use oregano medicinally, you can still enjoy cooking with oregano, and still get some health benefits in the bargain.

A perennial question when it comes to herbs and spices: should you use fresh or dried? The answer is: Yes.

Dried herbs are more concentrated and potent, and so will provide a more intense flavor to dishes. A chef’s rule of thumb is that if you need to substitute fresh herbs or spices for dried, triple the amount. So if your recipe calls for one teaspoon of dried oregano, you can substitute one tablespoon of fresh oregano leaves.

On the other hand, dried oregano may not have as many nutrients as fresh. Vitamin A is destroyed by exposure to light, and vitamin C is destroyed by heat, which may be used during commercial processing. (If you have access to a decent quantity of fresh oregano, you can air dry it yourself and keep it away from light and heat in the process. Check out our comprehensive guide to dehydrating food for details.)

One compound that will probably degrade no matter how you dehydrate your oregano is chlorophyll. And while you may have learned in biology class that only plants can photosynthesize, it now appears that humans can also participate in this amazing process by eating leafy greens and spending time in sunlight. For this reason, fresh oregano may be healthier overall than dried.

So my solution to this quandary is to use both, if possible. Since dried oregano has a stronger taste, you can add it early on in cooking, so its flavor can permeate the dish. And add fresh oregano at the end of cooking to preserve its nutrients and flavor.

How to Use Oregano in Recipes

Fresh oregano works well as a garnish for cooked dishes like pasta, on pizza, or blended into things like soups, stews, and sauces.

Dried oregano is much more versatile. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

• Use it as a seasoning for Italian and other Mediterranean dishes like plant-based pizza, pasta, dried nuts, etc.
• Include it in salad dressings and marinades.
• Sprinkle it over salads, grain bowls, beans, and scrambles.
• It’s also great on oven fries, with garlic powder and nutritional yeast.
• Bake it into savory whole grain breads.
• Make oregano tea (you can also use fresh leaves for this).

Oregano Recipes

Oregano’s flavor is thought to be earthy, slightly peppery, and sweet with a hint of mint (it is a part of the mint family after all) that complements the flavors of a wide variety of vegetables and plant-based proteins. The robust flavors of oregano are wonderful when used fresh or dried and are a delight in these tasty recipes!

1. Soothing Chickpea Soup with Fresh Thyme and Oregano

Soothing Chickpea Soup with Fresh Thyme and Oregano is a warm bowl of nourishing comfort that is perfect for a cozy evening curled up at home. Creamy, herby, and full of phytonutrient-rich veggies, this soup couldn’t be more satisfying!  With the fresh thyme and oregano imparting their concentrated earthy flavors into the chickpeas and rice, you’ll really get to experience the robust flavoring that oregano has to offer. If you love the earthiness this herb brings, sprinkle a bit more fresh oregano on top right before you serve it and enjoy!

2. Vegan Feta

Protein-rich tofu is the perfect base to recreate the texture and flavor of traditional feta with the help of a delicious and herb-centric marinade. Dried oregano, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, pure maple syrup and green olives transform the tofu into a slightly briny, earthy, and sour cheese that hits all the right notes. Give our mouthwateringly nutritious Vegan Feta a try, and let us know what you think!

3. Lemon Za’atar Crispy Chickpeas

Za’atar is a bright, earthy, herby, and toasty seasoning blend that brings together simple herbs and spices —  dried oregano, thyme, marjoram, sumac —  with toasted sesame seeds to create a dynamic flavor experience that doesn’t disappoint. Once this woody (thanks to our friend, oregano), tangy, and nutty blend is mixed with zesty lemon and chickpeas and then baked, you get crunchy, cravable, and healthy nibbles that are fantastic as a snack or an accent to a meal.

Get to Know Oregano!

As a leafy green herb, oregano is good for you for a multitude of reasons, including its nutrient profile, chlorophyl content, and terpenes. Research on oregano essential oil and extracts has shown it could help your immune system protect you from a variety of microbial infections, as well as even potentially fight cancer. Although mainly studied in the form of extracts, these benefits likely come from the whole herb, too.

You can use fresh or dried oregano in cooking and baking, although fresh may be more beneficial for your health. How you use oregano in your kitchen comes down to preference and, ultimately, what a recipe calls for. Experiment with both fresh and dried oregano and get familiar with this potent functional food.

Tell us in the comments:

• What are your favorite uses of oregano?
• Do you remember the first time you ate Italian food? What was the dish, and what was it like?
• Which oregano recipe will you try next?

Featured Image: iStock.com/marrakeshh

Read Next:

• Fresh vs Dried: A Guide to Herbs and Spices
• What Are the Real Superfoods? The Answers May Surprise You!

The post Why Is Oregano so Good for You? Exploring its Health Benefits & Uses appeared first on Food Revolution Network.

Subsequent advances in nanotechnology have some futurists predicting the end of death sometime in this century. And just in case that doesn’t work out, many technologists are cheering efforts to build computers sophisticated enough to accommodate human consciousness. Someday soon, they insist, we’ll all just be uploaded to the cloud when our bodies fail, and either experience the universe as an immersive simulation or get transferred to some other organic body for the next phase of life.

That’s all very interesting, and maybe I’d want to live in a world where such things are possible (or even commonplace) — I’d have to think about it. But for right now, I’m not after literal immortality. I just want a long and healthy life, surrounded by loved ones, doing work that matters to me.

Cracking the Longevity Code

The good news is that we humans have already cracked that code. Many times over. In far-flung parts of the planet, a number of societies have arisen that have created a quality of life conducive to vital and vigorous longevity. My dad, John Robbins, wrote about four such places in his 2007 book, Healthy at 100. And additional research over the intervening 15 years has reinforced what he learned and found more communities where an unusual proportion of citizens are still vibrant and active past their hundredth birthdays.

A National Geographic team, including author Dan Buettner, has studied five of these places, which they dubbed “Blue Zones.” Not only did they quantify and verify the longevity claims, but they also conducted sophisticated statistical analyses to identify common factors that contributed to those long and healthy lives.

In this article, we’ll look at the Blue Zones research, and highlight things you can do to improve the quality and, possibly, length of your life. And as some of the factors are social rather than individual, when you make some of these changes, you may also increase the odds of the people around you gaining years of healthy and fulfilling lives, as well.

The “Fight” Against Aging

Most of us fear getting old and stress out about the prospect. In an industrialized society in which things change incredibly quickly, being old is no longer seen as a qualification for wisdom and value. Instead, the idea that aging renders people irrelevant and out of touch has taken hold.

And in a society that sometimes seems to worship youth, many of us bemoan the physical limitations that accompany aging. We peer into a bleak future of deteriorating health, increasing pain, and physical and cognitive limitations. We may anticipate boredom, loneliness, or even neglect by a world infatuated with the new.

And despite the fact that all of us — the fortunate ones, anyway — will age, there’s a strong societal stigma against it. There’s a reason so many products are touted as “anti-aging” — our society is seriously frightened of aging, so much so that we consider it a disease rather than a normal and natural stage of life, which, like all other stages of life, has its own challenges and difficulties, and also its own gifts and blessings.

Your View on Aging Matters

When you visualize an old person, what words come to mind that describe that person? A rather typical list for someone in our society might include words like: “Senile. Slow. Sick. Grumpy. Irritable. Stubborn.” Words or phrases like that are characteristic of how our society often views the elderly.

But it might surprise you to learn that in some other cultures it’s a very different story. Becca Levy is a Professor of Epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health, and a Professor of Psychology at Yale University. She writes that when she asked people in China to describe an old person, the most common response was “wisdom.” In contrast, when she asked people in the US to describe an old person, the first image that came to many was “memory loss.”

It’s important to look at our prejudices about aging, because the fear of aging can become self-fulfilling. Evidence tells us that simply believing that aging is bad can be damaging to your health. As we age, this bias takes a toll on our self-esteem, our dignity, and also our health.

Adding Life to Your Years

Up until very recently, modern society has been steadily extending people’s lives for over a century. Advanced medical technologies may keep people alive longer today, but they rarely add quality of life to those years. The result is we’re living longer — with an increased lifespan — but our “healthspan,” the number of healthy years we get to experience, is actually decreasing.

There’s reason to think our current medical paradigm may be reaching the limits of its effectiveness. In the US, life expectancy has actually been decreasing over the past several years. This is partly due to COVID-19, and partly due to the opioid crisis, but it’s also because those losses haven’t been offset by gains brought about by new technologies.

While longevity and computer consciousness researchers look to an uncharted future for the “cure” for aging and even death, I find value in looking at societies where healthy aging is the norm. These are cultures where people fully expect to remain strong and healthy well into their 80s and 90s, and where it’s common to find people who are literally healthy at 100 (which is why my dad titled his book, Healthy at 100). So let’s explore them, looking for lessons for our society.

Spoiler alert: We’re going to see that longevity in these cultures isn’t linked to self-denial and abstinence, but rather to pleasure, social connection, meaningful work, and delicious, healthy, life-giving food and drink.

What Is a Blue Zone?

In 2004, Dan Buettner joined a National Geographic expedition to uncover the secrets of human longevity. They wanted to know not just where people lived the longest, but what the healthiest lifestyles were that contributed to their longevity and vitality.

The concept of a “blue zone” — and the name — grew out of demographic work by researchers Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain. They drew blue circles on maps to highlight regions of extreme longevity and referred to the areas inside the circles as Blue Zones.

Building on that demographic work, Buettner and his team identified five major Blue Zones. Using epidemiological data, statistics, birth certificates, and other research, the team verified the unusual distribution of ages that showed how common it was to live for 100 years or more. They found that someone living in a Blue Zone is 10 times more likely to reach 100 than a person living in the United States as a whole.

Places With the Most Centenarians (and the Characteristics that Contribute to Longevity)

Buettner and his collaborators have been studying Blue Zones for almost 20 years now, and have amassed a treasure trove of data. Not just about how long people live, but about what factors contribute to their extended healthy lives. Now let’s take a look at each of these five Blue Zones, and explore some of the qualities and commonalities among the people who live there that distinguish them from people in industrialized and postindustrial societies.

Ikaria, Greece

Ikaria is an island where, according to legend, people “forget to die.” And that’s just a slight exaggeration — one in three Ikarians make it to their 90s. Their rates of chronic disease are low, and dementia is almost unheard of. So how do they do it?

Let’s start with diet. Most Ikarians keep a garden, which provides not just exercise and exposure to the outdoors, but local and organic plant-based calories. Their diet is mostly plant-based, with a Mediterranean pattern that’s roughly 37% greens and other vegetables. They also eat lots of whole grains, beans, and potatoes. And they drink teas brewed from domesticated and wild local herbs, including rosemary, oregano, and sage.

Their Greek Orthodox practice sanctions many fast days per year, which means they’re practicing constant caloric restriction (one of the few interventions that consistently increases lifespan in animals).

Ikaria is a mountainous island, which necessitates plenty of vigorous movement just to get around from one place to another. No need for spin classes or aerobics — just going about daily life on Ikaria keeps residents fit.

That said, residents of Ikaria aren’t going full-out all the time. They enjoy their rest periods, including a daily midafternoon break. They don’t rush around trying not to be late for appointments. Instead, they embrace a more relaxed pace of life. Sometimes they stay up well past midnight playing dominoes and fostering social connections, and sleep in til later the morning.

Loma Linda, California

The 24,000-person town of Loma Linda, California is the only Blue Zone located in the US. Despite living mostly typical American lives, with cars, shopping centers, and stressful jobs, the people here live a full decade longer than other Americans. They also have a lower average body mass index, which correlates with all kinds of positive health outcomes.

Their distinguishing feature is their religion. The vast majority of Loma Linda residents belong to the Seventh-day Adventist church, a Christian denomination that puts a heavy emphasis on healthy living. Adventists typically avoid alcohol and caffeine — and don’t smoke. Beyond these no-nos, many adherents follow a vegetarian or vegan diet, based on a verse in chapter one of Genesis: “Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the Earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you, it shall be for meat.”

Many Adventists interpret this verse to describe a primarily fruit- and vegetable-based diet as the ideal human way of eating. Many who do eat meat do so in small quantities, as a side dish rather than the main course.

For a snack, some Adventists prefer nuts, which is a good idea healthwise. Studies show that Adventists who eat nuts at least five times a week have cut their risk of heart disease in half, and live about two years longer, compared to Adventists who aren’t so into nuts. They typically enjoy a light, early dinner, which is another dietary pattern associated with good health.

Along with clean eating, Adventists prioritize regular, gentle exercise, such as long walks. They observe a weekly Sabbath, a day in which they rest from earthly pursuits and focus instead on family, God, camaraderie, and nature. They often volunteer for meaningful causes, which provides a strong sense of purpose.

The Alzheimer’s rates among the Adventist population in Loma Linda are also among the lowest in the world. This is particularly striking because there are neighborhoods just on the outskirts of Loma Linda where people don’t follow the diet and lifestyle practices of the Adventists, and as a result, have vastly higher rates of dementia.

Sardinia, Italy

A cluster of several villages on the Italian island of Sardinia demonstrates the potent synergy of nature and nurture to promote health. Most of the inhabitants have an otherwise rare genetic marker, called M26, that’s linked to exceptional longevity. And they also enjoy a health-promoting lifestyle that takes full advantage of their genetic potential, with nearly 10 times more centenarians per capita than in the US. Unusually, a large percentage of Sardinian men make it to 100.

Again, we see a primarily plant-based diet in action, with whole grains providing about half of all calories. Meat and added sugar, which are so prevalent in industrialized societies, are rare treats rather than staples. Mostly, they eat homegrown and homemade foods, in what many Americans would consider a minimalist diet. But they also enjoy a traditional red wine called Cannonau, which they source from a native grape.

Because they are a shepherding culture, Sardinians walk a lot as a natural part of their work and daily routine. Family is important in Sardinia, and the culture there celebrates elders, involving them and valuing their experience and wisdom.

Okinawa, Japan

When researching Healthy at 100, my dad stumbled upon an amazing statistic about the Japanese island of Okinawa — despite being home to just 0.0002% of the world’s population, they boast 15% of the world’s supercentenarians (people over 110). The island also has the world’s longest-lived women.

They also have very low rates of cancer, heart disease, dementia, osteoporosis, and other chronic health conditions.

Traditional Okinawans eat — you guessed it — a primarily plant-based diet, consisting mostly of purple Okinawan sweet potatoes, rice, whole soy products, and other veggies. And they don’t stuff themselves with all this goodness. Following the dictum “hara hachi bu,” they stop eating when they’re about 80% full.

Almost all Okinawan centenarians grow — or once grew — a garden, often including medicinal plants. In addition to the benefits of the food and herbs grown there, gardening has them spending time outside each day, which helps them maintain optimal vitamin D levels year-round.

Traditional Okinawans maintain a powerful social network called a “moai.” Unlike digital social networks, the moai is a collection of close friends and family who interact with each other on a regular basis, in person, for the good of all. It’s both a social and economic safety net, and reduces stress and loneliness, two of the most insidious drivers of ill health.

Additionally, Okinawans are motivated by a strong sense of purpose in life, which the Japanese call “ikigai.”

Nicoya, Costa Rica

Most inhabitants of the Nicoya peninsula in Costa Rica live to at least 90. As they age, they maintain their social networks, and tend to stay under the family roof, living with their children and/or grandchildren, and remaining active and useful. Many of these centenarians attribute their longevity to having a “plan de vida,” or strong sense of purpose in their lives.

As with the other Blue Zones, Nicoyans eat healthy, plant-based diets, in their case based on the traditional Mesoamerican “three sisters” — squash, corn, and beans. They eat many fruits and vegetables that they grow themselves, and go light on the meat. They also eat small dinners.

And they enjoy physical labor, typically performed outdoors, as their main form of exercise.

How to Live to 100

So what can you learn from these varied Blue Zone communities if you want a long and healthy life? Should you move to an island, live in the mountains, and take up gardening? Maybe drink herbal teas and eat purple sweet potatoes?

The thing is, there are a million variables at play here, and it’s easy to get hung up on isolated details out of context. After all, that’s how our media tends to report on health — this particular food cures cancer, here’s the perfect 7-minute workout, and so on.

But the Blue Zones are challenging to researchers because they aren’t controlled experiments with one or two variables. Rather, they’re dynamic environments that contribute in a holistic way to people’s life experiences and health outcomes. So we need to zoom out from the specifics, as important as they can be, and also identify some of the broad patterns that play out in each of the regions under study.

And remember that there are no guarantees — it’s always possible to be hit by the proverbial bus (unless you live on an island that has no buses, I guess) or develop disease despite your best efforts. But while we may not all be privileged to live to 100, we can certainly take away insights from Blue Zones lifestyles that, if we implement them, will help us live far healthier lives than is the norm in our society. So let’s look at the things the Blue Zones have in common. What should you do if you want to live more like the people in these societies do?

Exercise and Longevity: Move Naturally

In other words, build movement into your routines of daily life. “Workouts” and “exercise” are great, but also seek to move on a regular basis as part of your way of life. I sometimes think we’ve become physically the laziest and most sedentary people in history. Our ancestors would never have survived if they were a tenth as inactive as many of us are today. In contrast, in each of the Blue Zones, the way people live — gardening, farming, shepherding, walking up and down mountains — both necessitates and produces a high level of physical fitness.

If you want to live longer, become and remain physically active. You’ll sleep better, you’ll feel better and be less prone to depression, and your health will improve in countless ways. And exercise can also help prevent prediabetes from developing into type 2 diabetes.

Find Your Purpose

The Okinawans and Nicoyans, in particular, exhibit a strong sense of purpose, a “why” they wake up every morning. This sense of being needed is easier to come by in the Blue Zones, where the communities integrate elders and value their contributions.

Having a purpose, whether it’s to support family, take care of the land, do the bidding of God, or some other reason, keeps people going when others might give up on living. According to Blue Zones research, knowing your purpose and living in accord with it can contribute up to seven years of extra life expectancy.

If you live in a society that doesn’t value and integrate elders, you’ll need to find and act on your own purpose. Look for volunteer opportunities and other opportunities to be of service to others. If you serve on the board of a charity or social welfare organization, see if you can include older people in setting and carrying out your mission.

Downshift and Manage Stress

Stress is a natural and inevitable part of life. What’s unnatural is never taking time to unplug from it, or engaging in practices to recover and reset. We know that excess and chronic stress can seriously damage your health by laying the groundwork for persistent inflammation that’s linked to chronic disease.

Blue Zone cultures build stress management into daily routines.

First, they tend to produce less stress because they aren’t “on the clock” all the time, experiencing “time scarcity” and always rushing around.

Second, social interactions themselves can reduce stress by triggering social engagement that can replace the neurological “fight or flight” response.

Third, they take frequent breaks for reflection or pause. Okinawans take a few moments each day to bring to mind their honored ancestors: Adventists pray, Ikarians nap, and Sardinians enjoy happy hour. They also use some homegrown herbs — in foods, drinks, or as medicines — to help to relieve stress.

What can you add to your day to ease the stresses of life?

Follow the 80% Rule

The Okinawan practice of eating only until 80% full is a great example of moderation in eating. This one rule could be the difference between gaining weight or maintaining a slim and healthy physique.

Not everyone in every Blue Zone follows this practice specifically, but all Blue Zone cultures emphasize moderating food intake in some way. For example, the smallest meal is usually eaten in the late afternoon or early evening, after which people fast until breakfast (now I hear it — “break fast”).

Fasting is also a part of Blue Zone lifestyles. There are many different types, including single-day, multiday, partial, and intermittent. In addition to aligning with deeply held spiritual beliefs, fasting has a number of health benefits.

And there’s a clear link between overeating and stress, often acting in a disempowering vicious loop that creates digestive problems and obesity. Noticing fullness and stopping at the first sensations of satiety is one powerful way to break the cycle.

Eat Mostly Plants

People in the Blue Zones and other long-lived areas follow a primarily plant-based diet. Staples of Blue Zone diets include vegetables, fruit, whole grains, legumes, and nuts and seeds.

As a lot of research has shown by now, plant-based diets are among the healthiest ways of eating, and can help prevent and stop the development of chronic disease.

Most of the Blue Zone diets aren’t entirely vegan, with the exception of a subset of Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda. But while they include some meat and dairy, animal foods typically make up a small proportion of their diets, are locally sourced, come from animals that graze in pastures rather than live in feedlots and factory farms, and are often reserved for special occasions like holidays and life cycle celebrations.

For example, traditional Okinawans source about 5% of their diet from meat and dairy, while these foods comprise over 30% of the diet of the average American. Also, Blue Zone residents typically grow or raise the majority of their food, and they rarely if ever consume the ultra-processed foods that make up almost two-thirds of the food eaten in the modern Western diet.

Plus, their diets are low in calories compared to others, with an average of about 1,900 per day — far less than the 3,600 calories that the average American puts away on a daily basis.

Drink Alcohol in Moderation (or not at all)

People in Blue Zones — except Loma Linda Adventists who don’t drink at all — drink alcohol in moderation. This looks like 1–2 glasses per day, always with friends, and as part of meals. While alcohol in moderation may relieve stress and lubricate social interactions, there are other ways to achieve the same effects without drinking, if you so choose.

I say this because there’s a lot of evidence that alcohol consumption is a net negative for health, and has been shown to increase your risk for several chronic physical conditions, as well as mental illness, and even death.

So if you live in a Blue Zone where you have a daily glass of locally produced wine as part of a leisurely and social dinner, that’s one thing. But please don’t take up drinking to live longer if it means downing a few beers in the evening while watching TV. This is a case where context really matters.

A Sense of Belonging

Just about all the centenarians interviewed as part of the original Blue Zones research belonged to a faith-based community. And while it’s impossible to disentangle belief in a benevolent deity from simply belonging to a community of like-minded people, we do know that “a sense of belonging is a significant predictor of mental health and well-being in later life.”

In older adults, specifically, research shows that a low sense of belonging is associated with depression, suicidal ideation, and hopelessness.

If being part of organized religion isn’t your thing, don’t despair — belonging can take many forms. You can connect with family and friends, participate in a group hobby like ballroom dancing, or even combine belonging with your sense of purpose by joining an advocacy group or charity that puts you in contact with others.

If you live in a society that’s fragmented, with little social connection, then you have to do some of that community building yourself. Start forming support networks, weave together neighbors and friends, and make sure to include elders now, so that you will be included when you reach that stage of life.

You can belong to the more-than-human world as well. Connecting with companion animals, or even feeling that you have a place in nature can also provide a sense of belonging.

Put Loved Ones First

Those who successfully reach 100 in Blue Zones almost invariably prioritize their families above all else. Often aging parents and grandparents live nearby or in the homes of younger family members. In modern society that may seem like a burden, but in the Blue Zones it isn’t; one of the reasons for this is that rates of Alzheimer’s and other dementias in these societies are only the tiniest fraction of what we currently experience in our society.

In terms of belonging, family often tops the list. ​​Family connections can provide a sense of meaning and purpose, social connection, and tangible resources such as home care, feeding, and cleaning. Being connected and taken care of enhances well-being.

Hang Out With the Right Tribe

People in Blue Zones enjoy longer and more vigorous lives than most because they’re embedded in systems and structures that promote healthy lifestyles. Just being part of a real-life social network improves health outcomes. A review of 150 studies including over 300,000 participants found that people with strong social ties are 50% more likely to survive over any given time period, compared to those lacking those ties.

Blue Zone cultures, by emphasizing the community and honoring and including elders in community life, provide social circles — like the Okinawan moais — that support healthy behaviors. Research shows that behaviors and qualities that most of us think of as personal and individual — including smoking, obesity, happiness, and even loneliness — are contagious.

I hope you’ll start weaving these Blue Zones strategies into “recipes” for your long, healthy, and joyful life. There are plenty of challenges to living in healthy, nature-based, and socially connected ways in modern societies. But the more each of us strives to build and belong to a nurturing and inclusive community, the more accessible such a lifestyle becomes for everyone else.

The food factor in Blue Zone longevity may be the easiest for you to adopt, as it requires the least coordination with others. And once you’ve dialed in a healthy, plant-based diet, look for ways to join with others — parties, potlucks, gatherings, cooking demos — to bring the rest of the Blue Zone magic to life in your life.

Here are some delicious Blue Zone-inspired recipes to get you started.

Blue Zone Recipes

Gather your community to share in the joy and power of nourishing plant food, taking healthy inspiration from these tasty whole-food recipes. Using common ingredients consumed in the Blue Zones, these recipes — incorporated into your daily routine — can help you live energized like a healthy centenarian!

1. Homemade Granola with Yogurt and Berries

Pile this yummy, nutty granola on top of your favorite plant-based yogurt (we highly recommend giving our recipe a try — just sayin’!) along with antioxidant-rich blueberries for an early (or late) morning breakfast that couldn’t be simpler or more delicious. Plus, this longevity recipe is an easy way to help you reach the Blue Zone recommendation of two handfuls of nuts a day!

2. Three-Seed Fermented Buckwheat Bread

Adding fermented foods to your diet may help you unlock one of the secrets to longevity. We think that our friends in the Blue Zones would enjoy our contribution to the effort — Three-Seed Fermented Buckwheat Bread — thanks to its deliciously moist texture with crunchy seeds and a slightly sour taste from the fermentation process. Be sure to keep an eye on the fermentation time and bring your patience — the end result is absolutely worth it! Enjoy the health-boosting benefits of this yummy bread with your favorite fruit-based spread, with nut or seed butter, or alongside a hearty plant-based soup.

3. Energizing White Bean and Kale Soup

Energizing White Bean and Kale Soup might be the quintessential Blue Zone meal with its bounty of hearty beans, nourishing veggies, and comforting herbs and spices. This soup has so much wholesome goodness, and the nutrition you need to thrive in every decade of life. There is plenty of calcium from the kale, lycopene and vitamin C from the tomatoes, plant-based iron from the beans, and so many more life-enhancing nutrients that this soup will certainly add a bit of Blue Zone magic to your life!

4. Savory Chickpeas and Spinach

Beans are a dietary staple in all five of the Blue Zones, with an average serving of at least a half cup per day! Savory Chickpeas and Spinach is a bright, zingy, and perfectly spiced bean-based side that makes getting your daily dose easy and delicious. It’s also super versatile — swap the chickpeas and spinach for your favorite beans and veggies of choice to make a new combination you’ll always be excited to try.

5. Southwest Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Gather the family to share and embrace the power of plant-proven nutrition with these longevity-loving Southwest Stuffed Sweet Potatoes. When it comes to nourishing your body, sweet potatoes are a plant-based MVP. With the addition of a protein-packed and phytonutrient-rich black bean and sweet corn medley, delightfully creamy avocado, and flavorful herbs and spices, it’s no wonder this recipe fits the Blue Zone recipe criteria.

Longevity Is Possible!

Although aging is often something that people in industrialized nations dread, due to its association with loneliness and chronic health problems, it doesn’t have to be this way. While aging is an inevitable part of life, and there are things you can do to slow the process, obsessing over stopping aging or finding some miraculous Fountain of Youth can actually stoke fears and increase dread of what’s to come.

Instead, look for things to do that can make your later years vibrant and enjoyable. By looking to the centenarians of the world in places like the Blue Zones, you can take inspiration on how to live so that you may dance your way to your “wisdom years,” whether they extend to 100 and beyond or not.

Tell us in the comments:

• What’s your favorite Blue Zone, based on the descriptions here? Which one fits your interests and temperament most closely?
• What can you do to increase your daily dose of movement in nature?
• Which of the Blue Zones strategies are already embedded in your life?

Feature Image: iStock.com/cometary

Read Next:

• What is Miso? Introducing a Longevity Food of the Blue Zones

The post The Blue Zones: Longevity Secrets from Centenarians appeared first on Food Revolution Network.

From black beans to chickpeas and from cannellini to kidney, beans and other legumes (like lentils and split peas) provide an easy and affordable way to get many of the critical nutrients you need to thrive. Beans and other pulses have often served as a primary source of calories and other nutrients for thousands of years — and across cultures. Including them in your diet is also a great way to help you cut down on animal protein and enjoy more plant-based protein (they’re full of it!).

So what exactly makes beans so great? What are the healthiest types of beans? What about some of the downsides and controversies surrounding them? And what are some of the best ways to use beans in your daily meals?

Types of Beans

There are over 16,000 members of the bean family, although only a small number of those are edible. And, in fact, only 16 (.1%) of those bean plants are regularly consumed on a global basis — at least, according to data compiled by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Some of the most commonly known and eaten types of beans are actually all different varieties of the same species. The common bean species (Phaseolus vulgaris) encompasses green beans, Anasazi beans, navy beans, black beans, great northern beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, and cannellini beans.

Other popular types of beans include:

• Lima beans
• Soybeans
• Adzuki beans
• Mung beans
• Cowpeas
• Peas
• Chickpeas
• Broad beans
• Lentils
• Pigeon peas

Bean Nutrition: What Are the Healthiest Beans?

According to research by Dan Buettner, author of The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest, beans are one of the foods most associated with longevity.

For optimal health, Buettner recommends eating a cup of beans each day. Few people in industrialized nations today, however, consume anywhere near that amount.

Yet beans can be one of the best sources of clean, whole food, plant-based protein and fiber. For people who might need to boost their protein intake, such as athletes and seniors, eating beans at most meals can be a great boost nutritionally. Cooked soybeans, for example, contain almost 30 grams of protein per cup! And beans don’t have the harmful health effects that animal protein brings, because they don’t have the pro-inflammatory compounds found in meat like arachidonic acid, saturated fat, and carnitine.

Then there’s fiber, a nutrient that many don’t get enough of. Cooked split peas and lentils have approximately 16 grams of fiber per cup!

To put all of this into perspective, many nutrition experts believe that a 150-pound person requires about 54 grams of protein and 40 grams of fiber per day. Most people in developed nations today consume an excess of protein, yet get only about 16-24 grams of fiber per day.

In addition to being excellent sources of protein and fiber, some beans also contain nearly a full day’s worth of iron, and many other vitamins and minerals, too. Black beans, for example, are also good sources of B vitamins like thiamine and folate as well as a variety of micronutrients like magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, and copper. Plus, all beans contain potent phytochemicals that are power disease fighters.

All beans seem to be good for your health. But which beans come out on top in terms of nutrition and antioxidant superpowers? According to NutritionFacts.org, black beans and lentils are two of the healthiest types of beans or legumes, beating out kidney beans, split peas, pinto beans, and chickpeas by twice or even 20 times as much antioxidant activity (in the case of chickpeas).

The Health Benefits of Beans

Now let’s dive deeper into some of the specific health benefits of beans and why they deserve a place in your diet.

Beans and Cancer

There is no guarantee against cancer, but a large percentage of cancer risk is due to dietary and lifestyle causes. Beans and legumes can help reduce the risk of many types of cancer in several ways.

One way is through the fiber they contain. Beans and legumes are among the foods richest in dietary fiber. Fiber is essential to help shuttle excess hormones and carcinogens out of the body. Without adequate fiber, these waste products continue to circulate over and over again, potentially causing cancer.

In a study published in the Journal of Nutrition, participants consumed a low-fat, high-fiber, high-fruit-and-vegetable diet, and researchers focused on the recurrence of colorectal adenomas (polyps) — which are a precursor to colon cancer.

After adjusting for all the commonly considered variables, the one factor that made the biggest difference in whether or not participants had a recurrence of adenomas was the number of bean servings they consumed.

Participants that were least likely to have a recurrence of polyps consumed 31 to 233 grams of beans per day.

Beans also contain a compound called phytic acid (phytates). Although phytates have gotten a bad rap in Paleo circles, many researchers believe that dietary phytates may be one of the reasons that people eating a plant-based diet rich in beans and other legumes tend to have lower rates of certain forms of cancer, including breast, prostate, and colon cancer.

Beans and Heart Health

Beans also have proven cardiovascular effects. And many medical associations, including the American Heart Association, recommend beans as part of a heart-healthy diet.

In a study published by Public Health Reports, people without legumes in their diets were at quadruple the risk of suffering from high blood pressure.

And in another randomized control trial published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, researchers gave participants just a half cup of pinto beans per day. After eight weeks, their total cholesterol dropped an average of nearly 20 points, and their LDL cholesterol levels dropped 14 points — as much as the level induced by the leading prescription cholesterol drugs!

Are Beans Good for Weight Loss?

If you’re looking to lose a few pounds or just maintain a healthy weight, beans and legumes are one of the best foods you can add to your diet.

A study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that people who ate beans regularly had a 22% lower risk of obesity and were more likely to have a smaller waist than people who didn’t eat beans.

One possible explanation for this is that beans are high in soluble fiber, which slows digestion and makes you feel full longer.

A systematic review and meta-analysis also concluded that the inclusion of beans in your diet may be a modest weight loss strategy and lead to weight loss even without calorie restriction. Because beans are low in dietary fat but high in protein (unlike meat and dairy products, which are also high in saturated fat), their consumption may reduce body fat percentage.

Beans and Blood Sugar

Beans are also low on the glycemic index despite being high in carbohydrates and starches. Unlike simple carbohydrates that may spike blood sugar, beans contain slow digesting starch that triggers a sustained release of glucose that keeps blood sugar balanced.

This was originally known as the Lentil Effect. But it’s now known as the Second-Meal Effect and is the reason the consumption of beans is often recommended for people who have type 2 diabetes, as well as for those who want to prevent it.

Eating beans for type 2 diabetes is supported by dozens of research studies, including a systematic review of 18 randomized control studies. The conclusion reached from the review was that the inclusion of beans and legumes provided improvement in type 2 diabetes markers across the board, including fasting glucose, insulin, and HbA1c.

The Hispanic Paradox

The Hispanic Paradox is an example of the powerful effect of beans. In comparison to national averages, Hispanic people living in the US have lower access to health care, a higher poverty rate, and lower levels of education — all of which are typically linked to worse health outcomes. So you might expect the Hispanic population to also have a lower life expectancy. But remarkably, on average, Hispanic Americans live substantially longer than both white Americans and Black Americans.

Hispanic Americans have a 24% lower risk of premature death — with typically the lowest rates of lung cancer and lower rates of bladder cancer, throat cancer, and colorectal cancer, for both men and women.

Scientists have studied why this might be the case and have determined that diet has something to do with it. Although Hispanics only represent 18.7% of the US population, they eat one-third of the beans consumed. So a high bean consumption may be one of the reasons Hispanics live longer than white and Black Americans.

Bean Side Effects & Controversies

While beans have a number of health benefits, they may not be for everyone. Here are some things to consider when choosing whether to eat certain types of beans or increase your intake.

Soy — The Controversial Bean

Although accusations of soy possibly causing breast cancer or the feminization of male breast tissue abound, the evidence actually suggests otherwise. In fact, soy, like other beans and legumes, appears to have an anticancer effect on the body and can contribute to good health and longevity.

The Okinawan centenarians that live in one of the Blue Zone regions eat soy foods regularly as part of their traditional diet. And the consumption of moderate amounts of traditional soy foods like tofu, tempeh, miso, soy sauce, and soy milk has actually been shown to be protective against certain forms of cancer, including breast cancer.

For example, in a study published in Cancer Causes & Control, the consumption of soy milk was shown to be associated with a 70% reduction in the risk of prostate cancer.

Similarly, in a study published in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition, women who consumed the most soy had a 29% reduced risk of breast cancer and a 36% reduced risk of recurrence.

And despite many claims to the contrary, soy has not been found to cause the feminizing effects for which it is sometimes erroneously blamed. There are, however, high levels of actual estrogen in dairy, eggs, and meat, and these have been linked to the early onset of puberty, as well as to fertility issues and cancer.

GMO Soy

Some people are also concerned about soy and GMOs. While it’s true that most of the soybeans grown in the US today are genetically modified, the majority of these soybeans go to livestock. The rest may make their way into soy protein isolate, soy oil, and other highly processed soy foods.

If you’re interested in saying no to GMO soy, it might be best to avoid eating meat and processed foods, and instead opt for organic tofu, tempeh, soymilk, and other USDA-certified organic soy products.

For more on separating the soy facts from fiction, check out our article on soy here.

Antinutrients in Beans

Lectins are proteins present in many plants and concentrated in beans, whole grains, and certain fruits and vegetables. Some people are concerned about lectins, referring to them as antinutrients or even poison. One of the lectins found in kidney beans, for example, called hemagglutinin, can make people sick if consumed raw.

But I don’t know anyone who’s actually in the habit of eating raw kidney beans, do you? It turns out that for most people, lectins and lectin-containing foods are not the enemy. In fact, research shows that lectins may even have health benefits like helping treat digestive cancers.

Phytates are another so-called “antinutrient” in beans you may have heard of. Like lectins, phytates are naturally occurring compounds in plant foods like beans. Phytates are often talked about because they chelate or bind to important minerals like calcium, zinc, and iron, making them less bioavailable to the body. The concern is they could contribute to nutrient deficiencies. But the evidence shows that they, too, actually have a number of health benefits and may help protect us against chronic disease.

Finally, there are also phytoestrogens in soy and other legumes. Phytoestrogens are often brought up in the arguments against soy because there’s a misconception they act like our body’s naturally occurring estrogen. But phytoestrogens, or plant estrogens, are weaker than normal estrogen and can actually bind to or block excess estrogen in the body rather than increase it.

For most people, then, “antinutrients” like lectins, phytates, and phytoestrogens are not a cause for concern when consuming beans. And, in fact, their very existence may contribute to the health superpowers of legumes. However, if you’re still concerned about antinutrients in beans, you may be happy to know that sprouting, cooking, fermenting, and soaking all help significantly reduce their antinutrient levels.

GI Effects of Beans

Although bean-induced tooting is the subject of a lot of jokes (and family anecdotes), some people do have trouble digesting beans. This is one of the reasons that it’s best to soak beans for 24–48 hours (rinsing twice per day) before cooking them. With every rinse, you’ll be draining off oligosaccharides, which are a leading cause of flatulence.

If you do this and still find your digestion less than optimal, you may want to try introducing beans to your diet slowly, starting with one-quarter cup at a time and adding more every day or two to see how your body responds.

Some people also find that lentils and split peas are a bit easier to adjust to than other legumes while offering similar nutritional benefits. Another thing you can try is to take a digestive enzyme with your legumes. A daily probiotic might also be helpful as your body adjusts to them.

Cooked vs Dried Beans

When buying beans you typically have two options, dried beans or cooked beans. So which is the better choice? The answer is — it depends. Cooked beans are usually more convenient because they’re ready to add to recipes. So cooked beans can be a great way to easily add beans to your diet. However, some types of cooked beans have additional issues.

Canned beans sometimes come with added sodium, making them a less healthy choice than dried beans, especially for people with high blood pressure. Fortunately, you can buy canned beans that have no salt added.

Canned beans may also come in cans with BPA linings. BPA is a toxic, plastic-derived chemical that can leach into your food. As of 2020, about 95% of canned foods were made without BPA linings, but it’s unclear if the alternatives are any better for you.

However, canned beans are not the only source of cooked beans anymore. You can also buy cooked beans in non-toxic packaging like Tetra Paks, recyclable cartons, and glass jars, which are better for both you and the environment.

Cooked beans are more expensive than dried beans — about three times as expensive. So it’s much more economical to buy dried beans and cook them yourself. But the trade-off is that dried beans take much longer to cook, which can be challenging with already busy lives. Of course, this can be solved with a little planning ahead.

Ultimately, dried beans are cheaper and, when properly cooked, healthier than canned beans. But if you don’t have time to cook your own, don’t let that stop you from eating beans! Cooked beans, especially in non-toxic packaging, also have health benefits and can still make a fabulous contribution to a healthy, balanced diet.

How to Prepare Dried Beans

If you do decide to buy dried beans and prepare them yourself, here are step-by-step instructions for how to cook beans.

1. First, soak beans for 12–48 hours prior to cooking by placing them in a pot and covering with lots of water — enough to cover by two inches. Discard soaking liquid, rinse, and resoak 2–3x/day, and then rinse and cook thoroughly until tender in fresh water. (Soaking is not necessary with lentils, as they cook relatively quickly.)
2. Cook beans using my favorite method, a pressure cooker. They come out perfectly every time. Pressure cookers save time and energy. The pressure also penetrates the tough exterior of beans, making them more easily digestible. But, if you don’t have one, don’t worry. A simple pot or slow cooker can work well, too.
3. Add a bay leaf or a strip of dried kombu (a sea vegetable) when cooking beans. Doing so not only adds flavor, but the kombu can help reduce flatulence from eating beans. Kombu contains alpha-galactosidase, which helps break down the oligosaccharides in beans that are responsible for their gastrointestinal effects.
4. You can also add spices, such as fennel, cumin, caraway, ginger, epazote, asafoetida, and turmeric to help make beans more digestible.

How to Use Beans in Recipes

Beans are versatile foods that work well as both a plant protein source and a vegetable.

Reap the benefits of beans and legumes by using them in:

• Soups, stews, and chilies
• Blended into dips, spreads, or sauces
• In breakfast scrambles
• As a filling for tacos, burritos, and other Mexican dishes
• Mixed into veggie burger patties
• Mixed into salads
• In hot or cold pasta dishes
• In casseroles, stir-fries, or power bowls
• Desserts like brownies or puddings

3 Delicious Plant-Based Bean Recipes

If you haven’t already begun your love affair with beans and legumes, we have a few recipes that we think might help!

Cowboy Caviar brings beans to new heights. This flavorful dish is best described as a fusion between bean salad and veggie salsa. Bean salsa? Sign us up!

Looking for a new bean to try? One-Pot Butter Bean soup is a quick and easy way to get in your one cup a day. If you have never tried butter beans before, we recommend you don’t miss out on this recipe (not to mention all of the healing veggies that accompany these beans).

Last but not least, Everyday Lentil Lunch is now one of our favorite go-to lunch recipes (and we love to share it as often as we can), thanks to the delightful combination of lentils, grains, herbs, and spices. With so many ways to use beans and legumes, we’re certain you’ll find your favorite go-to ways to enjoy them!

1. Cowboy Caviar

The beauty of beans is that you can transform them in a variety of ways to satisfy any craving, pallet, or nutritional need. Cowboy Caviar can best be described as a fusion of bean salad and veggie salsa. They come together for a gorgeous and colorful bowl of plants that is teeming with fiber, protein, phytonutrients, and of course plenty of flavors. Enjoy it as a taco filling, use it as a salsa, or top it on avocado toast.

2. One-Pot Butter Bean Soup

One-Pot Butter Bean soup is a quick and easy way to get in your one cup a day! Butter beans (also known as lima beans) are not often highlighted as a bean of choice in many dishes (unless you live in the South), so we are giving this bean its chance to shine. Butter beans have a starchy yet buttery texture (hence the name), and are a great source of folate (and other B vitamins), copper, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, iron, protein, and of course fiber! With the addition of carrots, onion, and Swiss chard, you’ll have a super nourishing soup with plenty of potent phytochemicals to help keep you healthy.

3. Everyday Lentil Lunch

Everyday Lentil Lunch is one of our favorite go-to lunch recipes, and we love to share it as often as we can! Lentils are a gold mine of nutrition. They have approximately 16 grams of fiber and about 18 grams of protein per cup. Plus, when you consider the nutritional value — the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and neuroprotective effects lentils have — you can see why we’d advocate for a cup of these health-promoting legumes a day. What’s more, this delicious dish comes together easily, has a variety of bright flavors, and is super satisfying. We’d recommend preparing extra lentils and brown rice to have on hand, as this could become your new lunchtime staple every day of the week.

Beans Are Good for You!

Most people I know are looking to save some money. And we all know that grocery costs can add up. Centering meals around beans can be a simple, affordable solution to eating healthier. Plus, you’ll get all the benefits of beans described above.

At just a couple of dollars per pound for most organic dried beans, it’s easy to feed even a large family a healthy, affordable meal featuring the lovable legume. Beans are also convenient. It’s easy to keep a variety of dried and canned beans in the pantry for making a broad range of bean recipes. There are so many exciting ways to prepare beans and reap their benefits.

We hope we’ve given you a few new ideas to incorporate more beans and legumes into your plant-powered diet and lifestyle.

Tell us in the comments:

• What are your favorite ways to prepare beans and legumes?
• What new bean recipe do you want to try next?
• What do you think about the health benefits of beans?

Read Next:

• Why Is Fiber Good For You? (And How To Get Enough Fiber!)

The post The Benefits of Beans: Why They Deserve a Place in Your Diet appeared first on Food Revolution Network.

Add the strong aroma of the tomato plant itself, and the scandalously red skin and juices, and those not familiar with the tomato’s culinary upsides might be forgiven for thinking that it was not fit for human consumption.

Early tomato marketing in the US didn’t help. A gardener from Massachusetts described them as “disgusting” sometime in the 1820s. Another chronicler of public opinion estimated that no more than 2% of the population would try that “sour trash” a second time following initial exposure.

It wasn’t just that tomato was an acquired taste that the populace hadn’t acquired. There was downright terror of tomatoes through the middle of the 19th century. One myth, widely believed in Europe, was that the mere touch of the green tomato worm could result in death.

Another myth attributed the deaths of wealthy nobility to their love of tomatoes, nicknaming the fruit “poison apples” (actually, the tomato may have played a role in their deaths, as its high acidic content released the lead in their fancy pewter plates and caused lead poisoning. But I doubt a jury of tomato’s peers would convict it of murder given such extenuating circumstances). And even though these bad raps were inspired by misinformation, that fear around tomatoes and other nightshade plants persisted for a long time. In fact, it still pops up on some alternative nutrition blogs.

Nonetheless, tomatoes are the second most widely eaten vegetable in the United States today, losing the crown only to potatoes. However, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, What We Eat in America (2005–2010), found that most tomatoes were consumed as tomato products — namely as tomato sauce for pasta or as ketchup.

So what’s the truth about tomatoes? Are tomatoes healthy? Should we be consuming them in such great quantities? Or instead, are they toxic, sour trash that carries deathly worms? Or is the truth more nuanced? Let’s find out.

Where Did Tomatoes Originate?

Tomatoes originated in South and Central America. All the tomatoes we eat today are derived from Solanum pimpinellifolium — nicknamed “pimp” at a time when the word didn’t conjure images of jewel-handed canes and giant sunglasses — a tiny, wild tomato no bigger than a pea. The pimp still grows wild in northern Peru and southern Ecuador. Tomatoes spread globally as the seeds were taken from Mexico and South America to Spain and across Europe. And the tomatoes grown today, in the United States and elsewhere, are descendants of those European strains.

Are Tomatoes a Fruit or Vegetable?

While most of the more outlandish myths around tomatoes have been cleared up by now, there’s one argument that still remains. Are tomatoes considered a fruit or a vegetable?

Often, they’re referred to as both. But technically (or botanically), they’re fruits. Tomatoes are ripened flower ovaries and contain seeds, which are characteristics of fruit. If you’ve ever seen a tomato grow, it emerges from the same spots where the plant’s flowers have bloomed.

I’m not sure why this debate is limited to tomatoes, by the way. Here’s a very non-comprehensive list of vegetables that are, botanically speaking, also fruits: bell peppers, squash, cucumbers, pumpkins, olives, avocados, and okra.

But to many nutritionists, and in the culinary world, all of the above are treated as vegetables. Tomatoes don’t offer the same sweet flavor as most fruits. Their lack of natural sugar content compared to other “fruit” puts them typically in savory dishes and not desserts. I mean, have you ever had a tomato pie as a sweet treat? I didn’t think so. After all, as journalist Miles Kington is quoted as saying, “Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.”

So for now, perhaps we can continue to consider tomatoes to be both a fruit and a vegetable, given the characteristics that allow them to fit into both categories.

Types of Tomatoes

If you look around your local supermarket, it may appear that there are essentially two types of tomatoes, big ones and small ones. But the truth is that in most retail stores, there are at least 10 fresh tomato varieties, ranging from cherry to vine-ripened. And when it comes to the varieties available for your home garden, there are over 400 to choose from.

All modern domestic tomatoes (known botanically as Solanum lycopersicum, which by the way means “nightshade wolf peach” for no reason that I could figure out from an exhaustive 3-minute Google search) are remarkably similar, genetically. Taken together, they possess no more than 5% of the total genetic variation present within the wild species and primitive varieties.

Some of the types most commonly seen in grocery stores include:

• Grape Tomatoes
• Beefsteak Tomatoes (Green or Red)
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Cocktail Tomatoes
• Roma Tomatoes
• Heirloom Tomatoes
• Tomatoes on the Vine

Typically, tomatoes are green when unripe and become red as they ripen. But they also come in many different colors outside of what you’ll find in the grocery store. At some farmers markets, CSAs, or if growing your own tomatoes, you may come across yellow, orange, pink, green, burgundy, purple, streaked and striped, and brown or practically black tomatoes.

And if you’re growing them at home, no matter what their color, tomatoes all have the same needs — full sun, fertile soil, and water.

Tomato Nutrition

Regardless of the variety you choose, tomatoes are full of healthy nutrients. They’re a great source of potassium and vitamin C and are a hydrating food due to their high moisture content.

Tomatoes are also packed with health-promoting antioxidants and phytochemicals, including several beneficial forms of vitamin A such as lutein, zeaxanthin, and lycopene.

Tomatoes are one of the best sources of lycopene, which helps reduce inflammation and is beneficial for conditions related to oxidative stress. Lycopene also appears to have strong anti-cancer properties, particularly in studies with men and prostate cancer. Lycopene may be the most famous antioxidant in tomatoes, but it appears in other red plant foods as well.

How much lycopene you can find in any given tomato is anyone’s guess. However, in one study, the amount of lycopene was reported to range from 2.5 to 200 mg/100 g in raw tomatoes — a factor of 80. The level of lycopene is directly related to ripeness and increased pH (that is, lower acidity). So the better tasting the fruit (OK, vegetable), the better it probably is for you.

To enhance your absorption of lycopene from tomatoes, eat them with some healthy fat. Lycopene is a carotenoid, which is a fat-soluble compound. As such, eating it alongside some fat can help boost its bioavailability for your body. Cultures that serve tomatoes with olive oil or avocadoes seem to have known this instinctively.

Studies tell us that heating tomatoes can increase the amount of lycopene that the body will absorb, by breaking down plant cells that trap the lycopene (puréeing has this effect as well). According to one study in the Journal of Food Science, the best ways to cook tomatoes and retain as much lycopene as possible are either by using the microwave or the stovetop.

5 Health Benefits of Tomatoes

The health benefits of tomatoes are best seen in their whole food form. In other words, when all their natural nutrients are intact and there’s been no high fructose corn syrup, excess sodium, or other unwanted ingredients added to them.

In their most natural form, tomatoes may offer the following benefits to your health.

1. Anticancer Properties

We already established that tomatoes are chock full of antioxidants, which can help protect your cells from oxidative damage that can lead to diseases like cancer. The most studied anticancer compound in tomatoes has been lycopene, which, in addition to helping inhibit prostate cancer, may also help to fight gastric cancer.

2. Cardioprotective Benefits

It’s possible that a tomato a day may help keep the heart doctor away. Research shows that the amount of lycopene circulating in your blood is inversely proportional to the incidence of heart diseases. Why? Lycopene appears to reduce the risk for inflammatory disorders, such as atherosclerosis, or the buildup of plaque in your arteries that can lead to a heart attack or stroke. It also modulates cholesterol, which plays a major role in your protection against atherosclerosis and heart disease.

3. Anti-Aging Benefits

The antioxidants in tomatoes don’t just help protect you against chronic diseases. They may also help keep your skin looking younger by preventing photodamage. One 2019 study found that lycopene supplementation resulted in higher blood levels and may have a skin-rejuvenating effect on middle-aged people. What’s more, one study found that green tomatoes contain a compound called tomatidine, which may improve the efficacy and strength of your cellular signaling, and even extend lifespan. So if you garden, and have some green tomatoes that may not survive the first frost, you can pick them early and maybe live longer!

4. Eye Health

That’s right, protecting your eyes isn’t just about wearing sunglasses or getting an annual vision exam. You can protect your eyes with what you eat every day, including making tomatoes a part of your regular diet. Tomatoes are high in vitamin C, which is a major structural component of blood vessels and tissues in your eyes. They’re also a rich source of vitamin A, which lowers your risk for age-related macular degeneration and is an essential part of rhodopsin, a light-absorbing protein in your retinal receptors. Side note, if you’re interested in learning more about the top foods that are good for eye health, check out our article here!

5. Offers Protection Against Respiratory Disorders

Lycopene appears to have a protective effect in respiratory conditions like asthma and COPD, and one study even found that lycopene could suppress airway inflammation in asthma. Other research has suggested that eating antioxidant-rich tomatoes may even help slow the decline of lung function, especially among people with a history of smoking cigarettes who have since quit.

Potential Downsides to Eating Tomatoes

Despite all of their wonderful health benefits, tomatoes may also come with a few reasons for some people to avoid them.

Allergies and Reactions

While tomato allergies are rare, especially ones that can cause severe reactions, they can still happen. According to reports, some possible symptoms of a tomato allergy may include swelling and irritation of the skin, inflammation and runny nose, and abdominal pain.

Some people also experience what’s called oral allergy syndrome, which is a contact reaction to ingesting certain foods and pollen that can cause your mouth and throat to become itchy. Others may experience latex cross-reactivity after eating tomatoes (as well as bananas, avocado, kiwi, and chestnuts), which is when your immune system overreacts to proteins that are found in natural rubber latex. And if you ever experience symptoms ranging from a stuffy nose to migraine after eating tomatoes, you may have histamine intolerance. Tomatoes have high levels of histamine in them, which can trigger a response we think of as an allergic reaction, although this isn’t the same as having an allergy per se.

GERD and Reflux

Tomatoes are highly acidic, and therefore often considered a trigger food for people with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) or acid reflux, in which stomach contents flow back up through the esophagus and cause irritation. While this isn’t a given, it’s something to be aware of if you suffer from these types of conditions.

The Nightshade Controversy

This isn’t really a downside, but I want to shed some light on the nightshade controversy. The bottom line is that most people don’t really have a problem with the edible members of this family of foods (such as bell peppers, eggplants, potatoes, and tomatoes). While nightshades do contain toxic compounds called alkaloids, particularly one called solanine, they’re highly unlikely to contain them in amounts that are dangerous. In fact, most nightshades contain around 2-13 mg of solanine each. And with a potentially toxic intake of around 400 mg, you’d probably have to eat well over 30 tomatoes in one sitting to put yourself at any degree of risk.

While most healthy people probably don’t need to put much thought into avoiding tomatoes and other nightshades, a few groups may want to steer clear. People with inflammatory bowel diseases may experience intestinal permeability, which could worsen with excessive intake of the fiber in tomatoes. Additionally, some people with autoimmune diseases report feeling fewer symptoms when they avoid nightshades, though most of these are anecdotal and likely depend on the individual.

Pesticides and Tomatoes

Tomatoes were also listed as #12 on the Environmental Working Group’s annual Dirty Dozen list this year. This means that tomatoes are among the produce most likely to have contamination from pesticides when grown conventionally, compared to other types of produce. So tomatoes are a good crop to grow yourself or buy organically grown if you can.

How to Choose Tomatoes

Tomatoes are at their best color, flavor, and texture when they’re vine-ripened and consumed at peak ripeness. However, most store-bought tomatoes are picked when they’re green and hard, and then shipped long distances in huge trucks to reach store shelves.

Just like bananas and several other fruits and veggies, tomatoes contain ethylene gas, which makes them ripen. To speed up the appearance of ripening, many companies lock immature green tomatoes in an ethylene-filled chamber. But this merely forces them to turn red, not to ripen in the same way they would in nature.

Natural ripeness brings more flavor to them, which is why some store-bought tomatoes look red but taste an awful lot like cardboard (I want to point out that this is a simile; I do not actually eat cardboard). This is one of the reasons that home gardeners often love to grow tomatoes. They can ripen on the vine and only get picked when flavor is at its peak.

But if that’s not an option for you, or you enjoy tomatoes year-round, then here are some helpful tips to selecting the best and healthiest tomatoes:

• Choose tomatoes that don’t have dark spots, mushy spots, or blemishes as this can indicate rotting inside.
• Holding a tomato in your hand, choose one that feels firm, but soft enough to respond to pressure from squeezing.
• Take note of how heavy the tomato feels in your hand, as it should have a solid weight for its size that indicates its juiciness.
• Take a whiff of it! A good tomato will have a strong, woodsy tomato scent particularly when you smell it where it was removed from its stem.

How to Store Tomatoes

When you get your tomatoes home, it becomes important to store them properly to maximize shelf life. Generally, you shouldn’t store tomatoes in the refrigerator until they’re cut open, as this actually dries them out and reduces their natural flavor. On your flat countertop, store tomatoes stem-side down to protect this sensitive area from exposure to moisture and bacteria that can lead to faster degradation.

Also, if you grew up in the 1970s and had a television, you may have learned from the Ginsu knife commercial not to try to cut tomatoes using your hand. I just thought I’d repeat that wisdom for later generations.

Canned Tomato Products and BPA

One of the added benefits of purchasing and eating fresh foods is that you don’t have to worry about potentially harmful compounds in their packaging.

BPA, short for Bisphenol A, is a compound often found in cans, plastic, and other food packaging materials. It’s been used in this way since the 1940s. Unfortunately, BPA is a known endocrine disruptor, which means that it interferes with the normal function of your reproductive system and increases the risk for infertility, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and obesity.

Though consumer demand has helped encourage many food manufacturers to phase out the use of BPA, many canned foods are still lined with it. There’s a higher risk with foods like tomatoes because they’re acidic, with a pH of around 4.2. And unlike low-acidity foods, tomatoes can cause the plastic they’re packaged in to degrade and start leaching, too.

Therefore, it’s best to avoid buying canned tomatoes and tomato products that are sold in cans to minimize your exposure to BPA. Instead, a safer choice would be to look for tomato products packaged in glass jars or in Tetra Pak-style boxes.

Best Ways to Prepare Tomatoes

I’ve known a few people who eat whole tomatoes just like they would an apple (this is a unique challenge, considering the tomato’s tendency to spurt juice onto shirts of all colors). But if that’s not your thing, there are plenty of other ways to prepare and enjoy them.

• Raw tomatoes work well on salads, cut into wedges alongside a dip, chopped and made into a decadent salsa, or sliced thinly for wraps and sandwiches.
• Cooked tomatoes add a nice flare to soups and stews, can be made into rich sauces, can be roasted and blistered for use in pasta dishes, work well in casseroles and ratatouille, lend well to savory pies, and can even be grilled on skewers along with bell peppers, baby tomatoes, mushrooms, and pineapple.
• Dehydrated or sun-dried tomatoes can add a sweet-tartness to homemade burgers, grain and legume bowls, mixed green salads, and on top of crackers and flatbreads.

3 Tomato-Centric Recipes

If incorporating tomatoes into your diet hasn’t been your daily practice, now’s the time to experiment with these beauties and appreciate their versatility. Start with delicious grape or cherry tomatoes roasted with balsamic vinegar and basil for a spring snack or topped on whole-grain bread for an appetizer. Try your hand at a fresh and flavorful red sauce by making the Basic Red Tomato Sauce. Or, create delicious burgers using tomato paste and sun-dried tomatoes, along with almonds and tamari for a complete umami experience.

1. Roasted Balsamic Tomatoes

Get your daily dose of vitamin C and carotenoids — nutrients that support skin health, immune function, and heart health — with the help of yummy roasted tomatoes. It’s almost as if tomatoes, basil, and balsamic vinegar were made for each other. Enjoy this tasty dish as a warm snack by itself or spread it on whole-grain bread, homemade crackers, or avocado toast.

2. Basic Red Tomato Sauce

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Italian food? We bet it involves tomato sauce, one of the most popular culinary creations of all time. Whether you want it for hearty pasta dishes or comforting plant-based pizza, making your own is simple, with just a few additional key ingredients like garlic, onion, and oregano. Pro tip: Double or triple this recipe so you can freeze it and enjoy it in the weeks to come!

3. Umami Sun-dried Tomato and Almond Burgers

In this delicious veggie burger recipe, you’ll use both tomato paste and sun-dried tomatoes, which not only highlights the versatility of tomatoes but also creates bursts of flavor. The umami depth comes from the sun-dried tomatoes, nuts, and tamari. They taste fantastic served as a traditional burger or bun-free.

Tomatoes Are Healthy & Delicious

Tomatoes come in different sizes, colors, and types but they all share the same truth: they’re nutritious fruits (and vegetables, if you prefer!) that are full of antioxidants. These powerful antioxidants give them a number of important health benefits and may help to protect against chronic disease and aging. For most people, tomatoes are a delicious and wonderful part of a healthy diet, especially if you can get or grow them organically.

Tell us in the comments:

• Do you eat tomatoes? What’s your favorite way to prepare them?
• Have you ever tried other varieties of tomatoes that aren’t generally found in the grocery store?
• Have you had luck growing your own tomatoes at home, either in a garden bed or a pot? What tips and tricks do you suggest for home-grown tomatoes?

Feature image: iStock.com/Magone

Read Next

• Are Nightshades Safe? Are They Healthy?
• Why Daily Vitamin C is Good for Your Immune System
• The Dirty Dozen & Clean 15: The Most & Least Pesticide-Contaminated Produce

The post Are Tomatoes Good for You? appeared first on Food Revolution Network.

Based on the details of ancient rock paintings, some historians think that the use of magic mushrooms was alive and well in 9,000 BC among indigenous populations of North Africa. (I don’t know where those cave artists found tie-dye paint, but you can’t argue with science!) Furthermore, statues and art thought to represent mushrooms have been found in Mayan and Aztec ruins in Central America, establishing their ceremonial importance in the Americas over many thousands of years.

Today, mushrooms are growing in popularity worldwide due to their nutritional properties and versatile uses in the kitchen. While annual consumption of mushrooms in the United States stabilized at an average of three pounds per person in the decade ending in 2015, the market has been growing steadily since and is projected to grow even faster globally over the next several years.

But what makes mushrooms so special? Are they good for the environment too? And what about poisonous and psychedelic mushrooms? How do you avoid the former and not take the latter by accident? And will I be able to stop myself from making at least one “fun guy” joke for the rest of this article?

What Are Mushrooms?

Mushrooms are mainly found in forests and areas with a lot of moisture. They are classified as a saprophage (a fancy word of Greek origin, meaning “eats rotting stuff”), and therefore don’t have chlorophyll, so they don’t require sunlight to grow. Saprophages tend to grow in peat, on logs or trees, and in soil, and thrive in moist environments by extracting nutrients from dead and decaying plant and animal matter.

Although mushrooms are often lumped together with vegetables and other plants, technically, they aren’t plants at all. Mushrooms are fungi — as are yeasts and molds. Fungi get their own kingdom, just like plants and animals.

There are two big differences between the two kingdoms. Plants make their own food via photosynthesis, while fungi take in their food from the outside, just as animals do. Also, plant cell walls are made up of cellulose, as opposed to the chitin that makes up the cell walls of fungi (and interestingly, the exoskeletons of insects and the scales of fish). So next time you include mushrooms in a veggie stir-fry, take time to appreciate the fact that members of such different biological kingdoms get along so well together.

What we call a mushroom is technically the fruiting body of a type of fungus. It’s made up of three parts: the stipe (stem), the pileus (cap), and the lamellae (gills). The “seeds” of the mushroom “fruit” are its spores, which form a network of microscopic rooting threads called mycelium. This is a mass of thread-like branches that the mushrooms use to decompose nearby plant material in order to extract nutrients. Mycelium can live for many years, communicating with other plants and sending up its annual crop of mushrooms.

The mycelium can be small and compact, or can span underground over thousands of acres with mushrooms popping up out of the ground sporadically or in clusters. The world’s largest organism is thought to be a mycelium network belonging to a mushroom technically called Armillaria ostoyae, or commonly known as the honey mushroom, found in Malheur National Forest, Oregon. How enormous is it? This mushroom’s mycelium network covers two square miles and is around 8,650 years old. So if you ever get tired of knock-knock jokes, you can try this riddle: “What’s two and a half miles across, 8,650 years old, and lives in Oregon?”

Types of Edible Mushrooms

There are approximately 14,000 different species of mushroom, which includes edible, inedible, poisonous, and psychoactive. Out of the 300 edible species, 30 have been domesticated, and 10 are commonly grown commercially for consumers. The most common edible mushrooms are:

• White (includes white button, portobello, and cremini)
• Oyster
• Shitake
• Enoki
• Lion’s Mane
• Turkey Tail
• Hen of the Woods
• Beech
• Chanterelle
• Porcini
• Morel

You have likely seen many of these either at the grocery store or perhaps used in dishes on a restaurant menu.

Mushroom Nutrition

In case you’re under the impression that ordinary white mushrooms are like white rice and white flour — devoid of nutrients — let me reassure you. The common button mushroom is actually one of the most nutritious varieties out there. In fact, no matter what type of edible species you choose, mushrooms are tremendously nutritious, adding a wide range of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals to your diet.

One cup (108 grams) of sliced white mushrooms offers the following nutritional profile:

• Calories: 28
• Protein: 4 grams
• Total Carbohydrates: 4.4 grams
• Dietary Fiber: 2 grams
• Total Sugar: 0 grams
• Total Fat: 0.4 grams
• Riboflavin: 29% of the Daily Value (DV)
• Niacin: 22% of the DV
• Pantothenic Acid: 16% of the DV
• Folate: 5% of the DV
• Thiamin: 7% of the DV
• Selenium: 21% of the DV
• Copper: 16% of the DV
• Potassium: 12% of the DV
• Phosphorus: 11% of the DV
• Zinc: 4% of the DV
• Manganese: 3% of the DV
• Magnesium: 3% of the DV
• Iron: 2% of the DV

Interestingly, mushrooms share a nutrition-related benefit with humans. That single cup serving also contains approximately 23 IU of vitamin D2. We humans aren’t the only clever organism that produces vitamin D in our skin when exposed to direct sunlight; mushrooms can do the same. (Admittedly, however, 23 IU of Vitamin D is only about 6% of your daily value, so although the vitamin D in mushrooms is a fun fact, you’re probably better off getting sunshine or considering supplementation, unless eating 4 pounds of mushrooms per day is your idea of a good time.)

In addition to mushrooms producing vitamin D2 from the sun, lichen is one of the only other plant-based sources of both vitamin D2 and D3.

Mushrooms are also a rich source of antioxidants that counteract the damaging effects of free radicals. And certain types of mushrooms have been studied for their medicinal benefits, including boosting your immune defense, supporting brain health, regulating blood sugar levels, and improving exercise performance.

Now, let’s take a deeper dive into their array of benefits.

7 Health Benefits of Mushrooms

Mushrooms are a rich source of compounds and complex substances with antimicrobial, antiviral, antitumor, antiallergic, immunomodulating, anti-inflammatory, antiatherogenic (against the formation of fatty deposits in the arteries), hypoglycemic, and hepatoprotective (good for the liver) properties. (And they must be good for the brain, too, to inspire me to use all those fancy science words in that last sentence!) Some of the best-researched health benefits of incorporating mushrooms into your diet are detailed below.

1. They are good for your immune system.

In a 2011 study led by researchers at the University of Florida, participants who ate a four-ounce serving of shiitake mushrooms each day for four weeks had better-functioning gamma delta T-cells and reductions in inflammatory proteins. The researchers concluded that regular mushroom consumption could enhance the immune system while reducing excessive inflammation.

Vegans and vegetarians were excluded from the study, as were people who already were eating at least seven daily servings of fruits and vegetables, under the assumption that they probably already had powerful immune systems. So the study didn’t tell us how much marginal improvement you might expect if you add shiitakes to an already plant-based diet. We do know that mushrooms are also a rich source of compounds called beta-glucans, which activate leukocytes — or white blood cells — to help fight off foreign substances and diseases.

2. They may have anti-aging properties.

Mushrooms are high in antioxidants, compounds that fight the free radicals and oxidative stress that are responsible for damage to cells from diseases like cancer, coronary heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and dementia. A study conducted by Penn State University in 2017 found that mushrooms are especially high in two antioxidants, ergothioneine and glutathione. And some species contain more than others. While the research is preliminary, Porcini mushrooms appear to be the best source of these two antioxidants. And another piece of good news is that levels of ergothioneine and glutathione are unaffected by cooking.

For you history and etymology buffs out there, ergothioneine got its name from the fungus from which it was first purified in 1909: ergot. This toxic fungus may have been partially responsible for a lot of the crazy that was perpetrated at the Salem witch trials in the late 17th century. Scholars have suggested that the moldy ergot grew on rye that was planted just before a cold winter and harvested after a wet spring. And those who ate the bread made from the grain likely suffered convulsions and hallucinations. Once the grain ran out, the trials quickly ceased. But don’t worry — the ergothioneine in edible mushrooms won’t make you see witches.

3. They may have anticancer properties.

Researchers from the University of Western Australia in Perth conducted a study of 2,000 Chinese women, roughly half of whom had suffered from breast cancer. The scientists reviewed the women’s eating habits and factored out other variables that contribute to cancer, such as being overweight, lack of exercise, and smoking. They found that those women who consumed at least a third of an ounce of fresh mushrooms every day (about one mushroom per day) were 64% less likely to develop breast cancer. In the study, dried mushrooms had a slightly less protective effect, reducing the risk by around half.

Other research has found that white button mushroom powder was able to significantly lower prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, levels in men previously treated for prostate cancer. This may indicate a potential preventive application to reduce the risk of prostate cancer recurrence.

4. They may protect brain health and cognition.

In a 2016 animal study published in the International Journal of Molecular Science, researchers examined the effects on the brain of H. erinaceus, or Lion’s Mane, a species of edible and medicinal mushroom. Researchers found that when some very unfortunate mice with chemically-induced Alzheimer’s disease were given Lion’s Mane extract, they experienced reduced free radicals, blocked calcium overload, improved endurance, and reduced escape time in an ethically disturbing water maze test.

Lion’s Mane was also the focus of a 2017 animal study, in which researchers found that supplementation given to healthy mice boosted neuronal function and improved recognition memory. And in a 2018 study published in Behavioural Neurology, researchers found that Lion’s Mane promotes positive brain health by inducing nerve growth factor, which may help improve outcomes of ischemic stroke (the one caused by a blockage preventing blood from reaching the brain), Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and depression if included in daily meals.

5. They are good for your heart.

Mushrooms are rich in the amino acid ergothioneine, which has been associated with a lower risk for heart disease. In a 2019 study published in BMJ, researchers looked at the blood chemistry of 3,236 participants over 21 years, and found that higher levels of ergothioneine were associated with lower risk for heart disease diagnosis and mortality. Furthermore, the researchers found that higher levels of ergothioneine can likely be supported by eating a diet rich in this amino acid, of which mushrooms are a significant source. Other research has shown the reishi or lingzhi (G. lucidum) species of mushroom to offer specific cardioprotective effects because of its antioxidant activity.

6. They are good for your gut and digestive system.

Research shows that mushrooms act as a prebiotic — providing food for probiotics — and can help to stimulate the healthy balance and growth of your gut microbiota. They improve and regulate the microbiome, which is critically important to overall health. Studies have found that gut microbiota has a significant role in regulating diseases like non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, pneumococcal pneumonia, gut conditions, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and possibly even neurodegenerative diseases.

7. They may stimulate hair growth.

Some varieties of mushrooms have even been found to promote healthy growth of hair follicles. For instance, chagas are commonly used as shampoo in Mongolia to maintain healthy hair. Seeking to determine whether there was any science to back up this traditional Mongolian practice, researchers conducted a 2019 study that was published in the Journal of Natural Medicines. The researchers found that chagas were indeed a potential candidate for hair health applications and had a stimulative effect on hair follicle cells in a petri dish, doing more for the cells than an FDA-approved hair-growth drug, minoxidil. Whether or not eating mushrooms will beat Rogaine in giving you a shaggy mane, however, is still unknown.

Practical and Environmental Benefits of Mushrooms

Not only are mushrooms great for your health, it turns out that they’re also really good for the environment. As nature’s master recyclers, fungi are adept at turning rotting vegetation into new growth. And they’ve got a lot of other neat tricks up their stems!

Mushrooms have a symbiotic, or mutualistic, relationship with other plants.

Fungi that work synergistically with plants are called mycorrhizae. Here’s how it works: fungi colonize the roots of a host plant, helping them access and absorb more nutrients and water. In return, the plant provides the fungi with carbohydrates made through photosynthesis. Both also benefit from increased protection from pathogens.

Mushrooms are critical to decomposition.

Mushrooms are nature’s recyclers. They allow nutrients to be added back to soil and water so that other plants can use them to grow and reproduce.

Mushrooms are sustainably grown.

Many varieties of mushrooms are still wild-harvested and sold to small restaurants and farmers markets.

They may also help fight deforestation. As seen in Tanzania, a program called Farm Africa is teaching farmers to grow and sell oyster mushrooms instead of growing crops and raising animals that require cutting down forests.

There are also commercially grown mushrooms and mushroom farms. Many commercial mushroom farms sell mushroom compost, which can be reused by farmers and gardeners growing less demanding crops. This compost can also be used as a mulch around perennials, trees, and shrubs.

Furthermore, mushrooms produce an abundance of food for relatively little input of water and energy compared to many other crops.

Mushrooms could help clean up oil spills and toxic chemicals.

Mushrooms are highly absorbable, intricate, and seemingly intelligent (that is, responding actively and appropriately to their environment, even when encountering new situations). And some mushroom researchers like Paul Stamets believe that they could be used to help solve a number of human problems. While more research is needed, some of these ideas include using mushrooms to break down petrochemicals or absorb radiation from contaminated soil and water, or to cleanse industrial runoff and filter toxins and endocrine disruptors.

The prestigious science journal Nature reported in 2007 that some fungi appeared to be eating the radiation still emanating from the Chernobyl nuclear plant some 20+ years after the disastrous 1985 accident.

Is it safe to eat mushrooms that have absorbed oil, lead, radiation, or other contaminants? Probably not. Their ability to bioaccumulate toxins can be a great way to clean up soil, but they still need to be disposed of properly. The good news is that most mushrooms grown for human consumption aren’t growing on contaminated soil. (Although I can imagine a Marvel superhero who gained his power to make people feel good after eating radioactive mushrooms. Of course, his name would be “Fun Guy.”) And, in fact, mushrooms are on the Environmental Working Group’s Clean 15 list because they aren’t generally contaminated with significant amounts of pesticides.

Potential Mushroom Health Risks

While there are thousands of species of mushrooms, many of which have known health benefits, there are a few important things to keep in mind if you’re considering adding mushrooms to your diet.

Not all mushrooms are edible.

In fact, many wild types are poisonous. So before you go foraging for mushrooms in the wild, make sure you know which types are safe to eat. Poisonous mushrooms can cause a wide array of symptoms, ranging from mild gastric upset to death. One of the most treasured and delicious wild mushroom varieties, chanterelle, has a similar orange hue to the toxic Jack-O-Lantern (Omphalotus olearius), although only the Jack-O-Lantern glows at night. So unless you’re a mushroom identification expert, it’s best to stick to the ones you can find at the grocery store or farmers market.

Psilocybin

Psychedelic mushrooms contain a naturally-occurring compound called psilocybin that gives them their “magical” effects, which can be described as inducing an altered state of consciousness. Even in small doses, magic mushrooms can alter your sense perception and have hallucinogenic effects. Psilocybin binds to a serotonin receptor in your brain called 5-HT2C, which is responsible for releasing neurotransmitters related to imagination, memory, perception, cognition, anxiety, and appetite. It also appears to downregulate the brain system known as the Default Mode Network (DMN), which is basically a program that runs whenever you’re not focusing on something else, and which continually tells you who you are and what’s important to you. When the DMN quiets down, you can perceive the world differently, less focused on “What’s in it for me?” Many people have reported that this produces heightened feelings of connection and wonder.

Psilocybin is a controlled substance and is illegal in most of the United States, although clinicians and researchers are increasingly using it therapeutically to treat anxiety and depression. A 2020 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that psilocybin reduced depression with the very first dose, and the improvements actually increased over the eight weeks of the study.

Matthew Johnson, PhD, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral studies at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, has been studying psilocybin’s effects for years. He advises people not to start self-medicating with psilocybin-containing mushrooms. But he also says the drug has potential benefits for a variety of people.

For example, Johnson has conducted a study using psilocybin to help people quit smoking. The study was small, only 15 participants, but the success rate was large. Nearly 80% of the participants were no longer smoking six months after the study ended. Two and a half years later, 60% were still not smoking.

Legalization

In 2019, Denver became the first city in the US to effectively decriminalize “magic mushrooms.” This change came about because more and more researchers are finding evidence that the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, psilocybin, may have health benefits.

As of this writing, Oregon also recently passed Measure 109, which legalizes psilocybin mushrooms for therapeutic use. Psychedelic mushrooms have been decriminalized in Denver, CO, Oakland, CA, Santa Cruz, CA, Ann Arbor, MI, and Washington, DC, as the movement to decriminalize this potentially valuable compound gains traction.

They come with a small risk of foodborne illness.

Commercially produced mushrooms have been linked to a few documented cases of foodborne illness outbreaks associated with pathogens.

A multistate outbreak of Staphylococcal food poisoning in 1989 that was associated with canned mushrooms imported from the People’s Republic of China sickened 102 people. In 2003, mushrooms contaminated with Salmonella Heidelberg due to improper handling — in which they likely came in contact with raw meat — was responsible for a restaurant outbreak. And in early 2020, an outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes crossed multiple state lines and affected 36 people. It was linked to Enoki mushrooms, which are often used in East Asian dishes.

So while mushrooms can be associated with outbreaks of foodborne illness, this is actually quite rare.

Raw mushrooms may contain toxins.

Certain raw edible mushrooms — including popular varieties like the white button mushroom — appear to have a naturally-occurring compound called agaratine, which may have toxicological or even potentially carcinogenic effects. Agaratine is destroyed by heat, so it’s always a good idea to cook mushrooms, and refrain from eating them raw, to be on the safe side.

Some people may have a mushroom allergy.

Although rare, mushroom allergies are possible, especially among people who have a mold allergy. If you eat mushrooms and experience digestive upset, this could be a potential sign of a mushroom allergy. If you think you might have a mushroom allergy, or that you may be at risk for having one, you may want to speak to your healthcare provider and consider getting screened.

How to Grow, Find, and Use Mushrooms

If you’re interested in growing mushrooms yourself, you might consider a mushroom growing kit. These are designed to make it easy and convenient for you to grow mushrooms at home, even indoors. All you need is a window with indirect light and a misting bottle to spray them.

Otherwise, you can get mushrooms from most places you get other produce, like grocery stores, farmers markets, or Asian markets. They can be found fresh, frozen, dried, and sometimes canned, although the latter sometimes contains preservatives you may want to avoid. When choosing fresh mushrooms to take home, look out for bad smells, a mushy texture, and too much moisture, which can cause spoilage. In the fridge, they store best in paper (not plastic) bags, as they need to “breathe” a bit.

Once you get your mushrooms home, it’s time to experiment with all the ways to use them and figure out which ones you like the best. You can add sliced mushrooms to stir-fries, use them to replace meat in tacos and veggie burgers due to their meaty texture and earthy flavor, and add chopped or sliced mushrooms to pasta dishes and casseroles. You can even grill larger varieties, like portabellas, in place of burger patties, loading them with all your favorite toppings. Remove the stems from smaller mushrooms, stuff them with savory ingredients, and bake them. You may also enjoy simply sauteing sliced mushrooms and using them as a side dish with other veggies.

Or if you want a potent mushroom beverage mix that you can simply add to hot water to get a delicious daily dose of goodness, check out this adaptogenic blend from Four Sigmatic.

Mushroom Recipes

Whether you’re using mushrooms as a flavorful topper to a meal, a featured ingredient in chili, or as a juicy, rich “steak” on its own, they’re sure to please your palate while optimizing your health. Below we feature three types of mushrooms. If you’re new to mushrooms, you can start with just one. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, try all three! You’ll experience the magical flavors, unique textures, and health benefits that mushrooms have to offer.

1. Mushroom “Bacon” Topper

Shiitake mushrooms are prized for their rich, savory taste and their ability to hold their own in place of meat. Their ability to replace bacon is no exception. Baked in a smoky marinade, shiitake mushrooms have all the flavor, but none of the environmental or health consequences found in traditional rashers. Sprinkle this tasty and nutritious topper on salads, grain bowls, tofu scrambles, and casserole dishes.

2. Mushroom Chili

Cremini mushrooms are so very versatile. Use them in veggie burgers, stir-fries, or in this mushroom chili, which is sure to please a crowd! And despite the deceptively long list of ingredients, this hearty and healthy dish is quite simple and very much worth the (little bit of) effort!

3. Portobello Mushroom Strips with Juicy Pineapple and Onions

Portobello mushrooms are often substituted for traditional steak, and for good reason. They have a deep, umami flavor and a rich, satisfying texture. Pair portobellos with pineapple and onions and get ready for a burst of flavor. Bonus: Portobello mushrooms are a good source of selenium, potassium, and copper — key minerals for optimal health.

Hooray for Amazing Mushrooms!

Mushrooms are impressive organisms. They’re biological powerhouses, offering tons of health benefits for us and for the environment. Their versatility makes them an excellent choice with immense culinary versatility. They’re highly nutritious. And as long as you cook them and get them from a trusted source, you shouldn’t have any adverse effects from eating edible mushrooms.

Tell us in the comments:

• Do you eat mushrooms? What’s your favorite way to enjoy them?
• Have you ever used medicinal mushrooms? What was your experience?
• If you’re new to mushrooms, in what ways are you intrigued to try them?

Feature image: iStock.com/TinaFields

Read Next:

• Amazing Study: Mushrooms Reduce Breast Cancer by 64%

The post The Power of Mushrooms: Nutrition, Benefits, & Risks of Edible Mushrooms appeared first on Food Revolution Network.